Many of us understand the struggles and pressure most teenagers experience but imagine adding homelessness to the mix?
North Las Vegas teenager Sebastian Crawford says he hasn’t seen his mother since he was five years old and that his father is an alcoholic, unable to keep a job and forcing them out of their home.
Yet how 17-year-old Sebastian has handled his situation is truly inspirational; we can all learn something from this courageous teen’s story.
At a crucial point in his education – his junior year of high school – Sebastian spent eight months of his life homeless and was forced to take care of himself, all while trying to get through high school at Rancho High in North Las Vegas and applying to colleges.
“The first 14 years of my life, I was lost,” Sebastian told 13 Actions News. “When I was 16, when I bought my first car, I was, per say, in the driver’s seat and had control finally.”
Sebastian moved into weekly rental apartments and then ended up moving in with his girlfriend where he remains today. He kept his situation to himself at school, never used it as an excuse and focused on his dream of becoming an aerospace engineer.
Now that dream is possible after the determined teen won a 2018 Horatio Alger scholarship. He is one of only 106 students nationwide, and the only one in Nevada, to be awarded the $25,000 scholarship. To be eligible, students must come from a household with an average income of $12,996 per year and maintain at least a 3.8 GPA.
“It’s sort of like a Tom Cruise moment, like when he’s on Oprah and he jumps on the couch out of nowhere,” Sebastian explained upon learning he’d won the scholarship.
After one of his teachers discovered his situation he offered him school supplies but Sebastian refused preferring to earn his own way by flipping cars and working full time in pizzeria, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
Sebastian puts his positive attitude and success down to eliminating the “I can’t do it” attitude. “And once you realize that, you can move on,” he adds.
Find out more about Sebastian’s inspiring journey in the video below.
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This young man’s attitude is a lesson to us all to never give up on our dreams whatever life throws at us. Please share if you agree.
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