Stories of Hope: Dawn Loggins

Dawn Loggins's story is exceptional.  She is at Harvard now, after struggling with homelessness and poverty, growing up in North Carolina.  She made the news last Spring as she approached her high school graduation, a straight-A student who had earned a full ride to Harvard.  If ever there was a story of picking oneself up by one's own bootstraps -- this is it, yes?  Well, no.

All students need support -- they need food and shelter, clothing and books, people to believe in them.  And Dawn received that.  We think that people get that kind of support from their families -- what is exceptional about Dawn is that the community of Lawnsdale, NC and the fine people at her high school stepped in and provided that support when her family was not able to do so.  From individuals who provided things like candles, so the teen could study at night (her family did not have electricity) to the programs that provided a janitorial job, it took a village to get Dawn to Harvard.  And, one should note, Harvard's huge endowment makes it possible to offer full scholarships to students like Dawn.  So Dawn did not pull up her own bootstraps -- she had a lot of help.

But Dawn is exceptional.  She had the intelligence and the spirit to make it.  No one learned all the material for her, no one else sat up late at night studying, no one else could grab a quick bite to eat in the janitor's closet, finish the cleaning and then hurry to class.  Dawn is amazing!  It is because of her exceptional intelligence and courage that the village she needed was drawn to her and helped out.

This story gives us hope.  There are good people and wonderful organizations and endowments that can step in and help a student in need.  People do not have to fall through the cracks.  But it also gives us pause.  What about all the non-exceptional, solid, hard-working, good kids who don't catch the village's eye?  A C and B student from the suburbs, with a solid home and decent schools can get to college with reasonable effort.  But a student living in poverty, one of the many (16 million!) children in the United States who have to think about hunger and the light bill, and manages to get Cs and Bs -- will these children get help from others to let them make it, too?  That's where we need to step in as a society -- to make sure that we really don't leave any children behind.

Dawn remains amazing.  From news accounts, it appears she is doing well at Harvard.  A quick look at her Facebook page shows that she is going to be one of those exceptional people who helps those who struggle with poverty.  (She has asked for privacy on Facebook, so don't rush off and friend her!  But I did see some very nice posts.  She's a wonderful person.)  We need lots of Dawns to help out those, like her, who are exceptional -- but held back by poverty -- and to help many more good, solid students who may not stand out, like Dawn, but who deserve a shot nonetheless.