Khadijah's Journey: Skid Row to Harvard
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Khadijah never stopped believing education was her ticket to happiness. Last May, she graduated from Jefferson High with honors. She's now a freshman at the prestigious Harvard University.
Far from the pimps and prostitutes of Skid Row, Khadijah is embracing her new community, Cambridge, Massachusetts. "It's just so different from what I'm used to. [In] Skid Row, you kind of feel stuck because everything's just so squished together," she says. "Here, everything's so open. The air is so fresh and clean and clear."
If other children growing up in shelters knew what was out there and what was possible, Khadijah says their perspective would change.
"To any person, homeless or otherwise, who feels like they don't like the situation they're in and feels like they can't do anything about it, they can," she says. "For a while, that's all I had—the belief that I could do it. All you need is that belief because you can. I did it."
Far from the pimps and prostitutes of Skid Row, Khadijah is embracing her new community, Cambridge, Massachusetts. "It's just so different from what I'm used to. [In] Skid Row, you kind of feel stuck because everything's just so squished together," she says. "Here, everything's so open. The air is so fresh and clean and clear."
If other children growing up in shelters knew what was out there and what was possible, Khadijah says their perspective would change.
"To any person, homeless or otherwise, who feels like they don't like the situation they're in and feels like they can't do anything about it, they can," she says. "For a while, that's all I had—the belief that I could do it. All you need is that belief because you can. I did it."
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