Monday Morning Motivator: 'I Was Not Going to End Up Like That'

Article From: MailOnline.com

A Harvard-bound teenager who was once abandoned by her drug-addict parents and did not even know how to wash has set up a fund to help other homeless kids after graduating from high school.

Dawn Loggins, who once declared a high school dropout and spent her childhood squatting in buildings without electricity or running water, defied the odds when she was accepted into the Ivy League school with a full scholarship.

And after graduating from Burns High School in Cleveland County, North Carolina, this week, the inspirational student told CBS how she intends to spend the summer helping others and working to save up for her degree.

‘We would go and fill up milk jugs at a convenience store or a park and use those to flush the toilet or shower with,’ the 18-year-old said of her childhood.

But despite the hardship she faced, Loggins maintained a straight-A average at school.

‘A lot of people use bad situations as an excuse, and instead of doing that, I use them as motivation,’ she told the network.

‘When I was younger I was able to look around at the way my family was living, at the drug abuse, the neglect, the overall bad choices and I was able to make a decision for myself that I was not going to end up like that,’ Loggins added.

‘And I knew that education is the only way to get out of poverty.’

The star student now hopes to help others from similar backgrounds after graduating to a standing ovation this week.

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