A homeless boy named Makoa Perez has defied the odds to successfully graduate from high school and also win a scholarship ti Washington University in the United States despite dealing with homelessness .
Perez graduated from Kelso High School, Washington in the United States with a 3.97 grade point avrage and a range of college credits. He was also awarded a full scholarship in his senoor year of high school because of his remarkabe grades.
Throughout high school, Perez livedin in a shelter and was working two tough jobs six days a week. even with his tied hands, he volunteered his little free time to help out with community service efforts, and served as his class president.
‘It was work every single day except for Fridays, and then it was all throughout the week until Saturday. I opened and closed at both my jobs,” he said. Because he was a full time student, he had to work in shifts that is working early mornings and late nights.
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Like in school, Perez also excelled at mist of his jobs. At one of his jobs, he became a supervisor and oversaw the work of those who were younger than him.
‘Managing an entire shift with a whole crew, some older, some younger with different schedules to attend to and different breaks to accommodate- it was definitely difficult,” he said.
Perez mentioned thathe usually use his phone to keep a detailed schedule which helped him keep track of his endless commitments and deadlines.He stated that he had to juggle schooling and working because he wasnted to provide an acccomodation for himself.
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”Really, it has been mostly about not only graduating high school and figuring out what I want to do after as my secondary career, but it has also been about housing and keeping myself stable,” he said.
He said he was able to seek assistance from the McKinney Vento homeless shelter programwhile in school where he was placed in a shelter, where he lived with several roommates.
Perez stated that he is looking ofrward to a less hectic college experience as he would not be working to sponsor himself again.
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