Philadelphia teen Richard Jenkins used to sleep in a homeless shelter and was nicknamed “Harvard” by bullies for being a bookworm. Now, he is going to the same Ivy League school on a full scholarship.
Jenkins attends Girard College, a boarding school in north Philadelphia, and is this year’s valedictorian.
The 18-year-old found out the good news while in Paris on a school trip. He said Wednesday that he was so excited he threw his cellphone in the middle of a call.
Jenkins said he decided to focus on academics after lying to a friend about sleeping in a homeless shelter in the sixth grade.
“I was so embarrassed to say I lived in a shelter,” he told WHYY radio. “But that’s when I realized I’ve got to buckle in because I can’t have my potential kids going through what I’m going through now.”
Jenkins said he applied to Harvard after receiving a promotional email in his junior year. He said he was especially attracted to its program that pays tuition for students from households that earn less than $65,000 a year.
While Jenkins wasn’t so sure, he said his mom always knew he was going to get into Harvard.
