How Homeless Black Girl Became High School Valedictorian and First Graduate in Her Family
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How Homeless Black Girl Became High School Valedictorian and First Graduate in Her Family

  • Rashema Melson was born and raised in southeast Washington, DC, and lived a majority of her life in either a homeless shelter or public housing
  • Despite her struggle with homelessness, she emerged as the valedictorian at Anacostia High School in the US
  • She made history in her family as the first person to graduate from the university after overcoming the difficult circumstances

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Rashema Melson made history when she emerged as the best student of Anacostia High School in Washington, DC, United States, after overcoming tribulations.

Born and raised in southeast Washington, DC, Melson has lived a majority of her life in either a homeless shelter, public housing, or even an abandoned house at one point.

Overcoming the challenges

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Melson, however, emerged as the valedictorian of her class at Anacostia High School with an outstanding 4.0 GPA and earned a full scholarship to college.

Determined girl goes from being homeless to valedictorian and first graduate in her family.
Photos of Rashema Melson. Credit: ABC News/Scholarship Region.
Source: UGC

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Speaking about the difficulties she encountered, Melson said noise and protracted security checks at the shelter compelled her to wake up in the middle of the night to do her homework in peace while in high school.

How she did it

''My life has always been rough,'' Melson said, according to ABC News. ''[But] reading books gave me an insight into a world that I have never ever seen in my life,'' she said.

Melson later graduated with a bachelor's degree in Justice and Peace studies from Georgetown University in Washington DC, becoming the first in her family to earn a college degree.

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Man celebrates brother’s 14 distinctions for master’s degree

In another story, Briefly News reported that a proud man showed his high-achieving younger brother some love after achieving numerous distinctions for his Master's degree. The two brothers posed for a picture at the graduation ceremony, which gained attention on social media.

Netizens were in disbelief at the young brother's results. The smart young brother looked proud while standing next to his older brother.

Tshego Matlala, shared a picture celebrating the 14 distinctions that his younger brother got for his Master's degree. The story gets even better as it turns out that the younger brother is only following in his older siblings' footsteps as Tshego is an LLB graduate with 12 distinctions.

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Source: YEN.com.gh

Authors:
Kelly Lippke avatar

Kelly Lippke (Senior Editor) Kelly Lippke is a copy editor/proofreader who started her career at the Northern-Natal Courier with a BA in Communication Science/Psychology (Unisa, 2007). Kelly has worked for several Caxton publications, including the Highway Mail and Northglen News. Kelly’s unique editing perspective stems from an additional major in Linguistics. Kelly joined Briefly News in 2018 and she has 14 years of experience. Kelly has also passed a set of trainings by Google News Initiative. You can reach her at kelly.lippke@briefly.co.za.

Nothando Mthembu avatar

Nothando Mthembu (Senior editor) Nothando Mthembu is a senior multimedia journalist and editor. Nothando has over 5 years of work experience and has served several media houses including Caxton Local Newspapers. She has experience writing on human interest, environment, crime and social issues for community newspapers. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree and an Honours Degree in Media Studies from the University of KwaZulu-Natal, obtained in 2016 and 2017. Nothando has also passed a set of trainings by Google News Initiative. Email: nothando.mthembu@briefly.co.za

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