Story for Thursday–A Homeless Valedictorian to Attend FSU; Mom ”˜Gave My Life Purpose’

“I perform the way that I do in the classroom because I have everything to lose. I make the grades I do because I was once lost and had nothing.”

Furlong’s mother died of leukemia when he was just 6 years old.

Soon afterward, Furlong, his father, and older brother lost their home and ended up in homeless shelters.

Furlong said he often went to bed hungry and there were times when he wanted to give up.

“I never had a full childhood. I felt like I wasn’t even human anymore. And I would just think to myself at night, ‘Do I continue to do this or do I make something of myself?'”

Read it all (Video highly recommended).