High school is not a happy place for everyone. The stress of work and the pressure to fit in can make the experience one that many students are glad to put behind them.
Once students have navigated this pressure path they have graduation to look forward to.
But one group of teenagers had no idea of the obstacles that one of their classmates had faced until he made a special speech at their graduation ceremony, as part of his honor for achieving valedictorian.
The student who graduated at the top of his class managed to maintain a GPA score of 3.9-4.0 which translates as at least 95 percent for all assignments.
For most students, this is not an easy task and requires a level of dedication worthy of such an honor, but Griffin Furlong achieved this while being homeless.
This hard-working student has spent the last 12 years of his life homeless, staying in shelters and on people’s couches.
Griffin wasn’t lucky enough to grow up in a stable home, he lost his mother to cancer and his father had financial problems.
For more than a decade, he was homeless with his father and older brother, enduring high school without even having his room. He had no place to sleep, no place to freshen up, and he didn’t have a place to study.
Despite all the odds against him, he not only graduated but did it top of the class. One of his teachers said Griffin was the only student who never missed an assignment.
In front of 500 students, most of whom had no idea of Griffin’s struggles, he told everyone that “giving up is not an option.”
“I can’t even count the number of sleepless nights I spent alone on a cold plastic mattress. I cried, internally hoping that my life would soon wash away so I would not have to bear the hardships of a seemingly evil world,” he said.
“I never gave up, no matter how bad I wanted to. To everyone sitting here before me, do not live a life without purpose. Deep down inside you know you have something to show. So whether you realize it or not, never make excuses, especially when you have a loving family able to give you what you need and want.”
The Florida student was given a room by his girlfriend’s family during his final days of high school and plans to get a degree in engineering at Florida State.
“I just want to show that anyone can do it, no matter what you’ve been through. I never want to live that life again. I do everything I do because I don’t want to live like that,” he said to ABC News.
He and his girlfriend are considering starting a scholarship to help students in similar situations.
“Never give up,” he said in an interview with TODAY.com. “Never let anyone tell you that you can’t do something, because I’ve been told that all my life. People would tell me I wasn’t smart enough, and now I’m here at the top of my class.”
I can’t imagine the stress this places on a teenager when they already have to navigate school, friends, sports, and peer pressures but to get through all of this and still maintain top marks at school is astonishing.
