From Homeless to Harvard: The Story of David Boone.

David Boone was only 14 years old when his family lost their home to gang violence in Cleveland, Ohio. The teenager’s problems arose when he refused to join a gang. In retaliation, their house was riddled with bullets. Consequently, the family split up, causing David to become homeless. Most of the time, he had to sleep in the park but only in the afternoon because it was not safe to do so in the night.

His high school principal, Jeff McClellan, was highly impressed with boy’s constant early arrival in school (he was getting up at 5 a.m.) not knowing that he was homeless. By the time the principal realized the situation, he and his wife resolved to take David in to live with them for over a year. The young man graduated from high school as the salutatorian and was accepted to Harvard, Princeton, Brown, Cornell, Yale, and University of Pennsylvania among others. He however chose Harvard University on a full scholarship from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

David Boone’s life is a classic example of an inspiring “grass to grace” story especially in the black community. In his community, too many young people are lurking in street corners to sell drugs, pimping women or wasting away in jails. Their usual excuses for taking the wrong paths can be as silly as lame and nonsensical. For instance, if the reason alluded to their negative situations in life is not due to the “lack of a father figure” in their lives, it will be because of their skin color or something else that can irritate a sane mind. Yet, in spite of the fact that David Boone could have easily hidden behind similar excuses if he wanted to drop out of school early on or to pursue a criminal enterprise, he worked hard to be where he is today.