At 17, Dawn Loggins came home from a summer program and discovered her family was gone.
No note.
No warning.
No home.
Months later, she received an acceptance letter from Harvard.
This is her story.
Dawn grew up in rural North Carolina in a house without electricity or running water.
When the family needed water, she and her brother walked to a public park and filled jugs from the bathroom faucets.
Showers were rare.
Classmates called her dirty.
She kept showing up to school.
Her parents moved constantly.
Eviction after eviction.
New town.
New school.
By age 17, Dawn had attended four different high schools and missed nearly an entire year of education.
Most students would have fallen behind.
Dawn excelled.
When she arrived at Burns High School in 2010, guidance counselor Robyn Putnam immediately saw something special.
Dawn enrolled in makeup courses.
Studied before sunset because there were no lights at home.
Took AP classes.
Earned straight A's.
Joined clubs.
Then led them.
Photography Club.
Rock Climbing Club.
Spanish Club.
President of all three.
That summer she earned a place at the prestigious Governor's School of North Carolina.
Teachers helped buy her clothes.
Putnam drove her 200 miles to the program.
Nobody knew where Dawn would be living when it ended.
The concern turned out to be justified.
Near the end of the program, Dawn tried calling home.
The number was disconnected.
When she returned, the house was empty.
Her parents had moved away.
She was 17 years old.
Homeless.
Alone.
Most people would have stopped there.
Dawn didn't.
She couch-surfed.
Carried toiletries in her backpack because she never knew where her next shower would come from.
And every morning at 6 a.m., she went to work.
As a school custodian.
She swept hallways.
Cleaned classrooms.
Scrubbed desks.
Then sat down and earned straight A's.
By graduation year, she had:
β’ Straight A grades
β’ AP courses
β’ Leadership roles in three clubs
β’ A part-time job before school every morning
Then a teacher made one suggestion:
Apply to Harvard.
Dawn laughed.
Then thought:
"Why not?"
She became the first student in Burns High School history to apply.
Months later, an envelope arrived.
Harvard College.
Accepted.
Full tuition.
Full room and board.
Everything covered.
On graduation day in 2012, when her name was announced, the entire gymnasium stood and applauded.
Teachers cried.
Students cheered.
The girl who cleaned their hallways before sunrise was heading to Harvard.
When asked about her parents, Dawn didn't speak with anger.
She simply said:
"I love my parents. I disagree with the choices they've made."
Then she added something even more powerful:
"If I had not had those experiences, I wouldn't be such a strong-willed or determined person."
Burns High School had over 1,000 students.
Dawn Loggins became the first ever accepted to Harvard.
Proof that the circumstances you're born into are not the same thing as the future you're capable of building.
βAmericaβs doctorsβ voted for nothing. A few hundred AMA House of Delegates members did.
Fewer than 1 in 5 practicing physicians even belong to the AMA.
The rest walked, and they walked for a reason.
The AMA stopped representing physicians the year CPT royalties overtook membership dues.
It now earns more than half its revenue licensing the billing-code monopoly to the same hospitals and insurers crushing independent practice.
Dues are under 8%. It answers to whoever keeps the codes flowing.
That has not been physicians for a long time.
How do these reporters get it wrong so often?
Did they ask any physicians their opinions before hitting send?
@simonjlevien (author)
This country rewards abusers and hates women victims.
Why did I ever think they'd get off their asses to elect a woman who prosecuted crimes against women and children, cleared CA's r*pe kit backlog, or earned the USDOJ's Award for Professional Innovation in Victim Services?
@folklaura_ Did the doctor really just decide to take a vacay or was the request put in months ago but it never made it into the system and they kept right on booking? I had that happen to me twice. Now I give out copies of my days off to EVERYONE in the office, inc. the front desk!