The Most Inspirational Stories of 2012

Photo by: WBTV

Dawn Loggins was attending a prestigious summer program on scholarship in 2011 when she discovered that her parents -- drug abusers who struggled for years -- had left the state, abandoning her, her brother, and their grandmother. Instead of wallowing or worrying, though, the teen was determined to succeed, in spite of her new homeless status. She got a job doing janitorial work before class, moved into a friend's home, and caught ... more 

Photo by: WBTV

Dawn Loggins was attending a prestigious summer program on scholarship in 2011 when she discovered that her parents -- drug abusers who struggled for years -- had left the state, abandoning her, her brother, and their grandmother. Instead of wallowing or worrying, though, the teen was determined to succeed, in spite of her new homeless status. She got a job doing janitorial work before class, moved into a friend's home, and caught up on classes online. In June she graduated from high school -- and got ready to move to Cambridge, to attend Harvard University. "What was I going to do? Cry about it?" she told The Shelby Star newspaper. "I just made a decision that I was not going to end up like my parents." (Read her story: Homeless, Abandoned -- and Heading to Harvard)
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