Griffin Furlong: The Homeless Teen Who Became Valedictorian

Shocks His Classmates When He Reveals He’s Homeless

In May 2014 Griffin Furlong, an 18-year-old senior at First Coast High School in Jacksonville, Florida, was named valedictorian of his class with a 4.65 grade point average. Few of his classmates knew that he had spent much of his childhood without a stable home, moving between a homeless shelter, hotels and the homes of friends and relatives. His story spread nationally that spring, and strangers went on to raise more than 100,000 dollars to help pay for his university education.

Here is what happened, what helped him succeed and what his experience says about the many students who face homelessness while still in school.

Who is Griffin Furlong?

Griffin’s mother died of leukaemia when he was six. In the years that followed, his father, his older brother and he struggled to keep a roof over their heads. For about two years the three of them lived in a homeless shelter. After that they moved from place to place, including hotels, relatives’ houses and, at one point, the home of his girlfriend’s parents.

Through all of it he kept his grades at the top of his class. His calculus teacher, Jennifer Stover, wrote of him that he was “the hardest working, most-motivated student I have ever had.” He later admitted there were moments when he wanted to give up and that the experience had been horrible, which makes his persistence more striking, not less.

Homeless again just before finals

For a while the family managed to rent a house. Then, in April 2014, just as Griffin was preparing for final exams and Advanced Placement tests, they lost their housing again, according to NBC News. He finished the year anyway.

Once the honour was announced, his story moved quickly from local news to outlets across the United States, which began calling him “the homeless valedictorian.” He graduated in early June 2014 and planned to use his valedictorian speech to talk openly about his family’s hardships.

From valedictorian to Florida State

Griffin had been accepted to Florida State University, where he planned to study civil engineering, and at graduation he was still waiting to hear about academic scholarships. Then the public stepped in. A family friend, Candace Nicole, started a GoFundMe campaign with a goal of 20,000 dollars. By July 2014 it had received close to 2,000 donations and more than 109,000 dollars, enough to cover his college costs.

His reaction was simple and relieved: “This will completely change my life, I hope people understand that. No more worries.”

He was not the only student in that position. That same year Rashema Melson, a valedictorian in Washington, D.C., who had been living in a shelter, won a full scholarship to Georgetown University. The two appeared together on ABC in June 2014.

How many students are homeless?

Stories like Griffin’s attract attention because they are unusual in their outcome, not because student homelessness is rare. The Washington Post reported that US public schools identified more than a million homeless students in the 2012–13 school year, a record at the time.

Many of those students do not live on the street. US federal law, through the McKinney–Vento Homeless Assistance Act, defines homeless children and youth as those who lack a fixed, regular and adequate place to sleep at night. That includes families living in shelters or motels and those doubled up with others because they cannot afford housing of their own, which matches much of what Griffin went through.

Homelessness makes school harder in ways that are easy to overlook: no quiet place to study, long journeys from a temporary address, missed meals, lost documents and the constant stress of not knowing where you will sleep next month. Many students also hide their situation out of embarrassment, as Griffin largely did.

That silence has a cost. A student who is never identified as homeless cannot be offered the help the law already provides, so teachers who notice patterns such as frequent address changes, tiredness, missing supplies or a sudden drop in attendance can make a real difference simply by asking a kind, private question and pointing the family toward support.

What support exists for homeless students

The McKinney–Vento Act gives homeless students in the United States several important rights:

Stability: they can stay at their school of origin even if their family moves to a different district.
Transport: they are entitled to transport to and from that school.
Immediate enrolment: schools must enrol them even if they lack records usually required, such as proof of address or immunisation papers.
A named contact: every school district must appoint a homeless education liaison to identify students and connect families with services.

If you are a student without stable housing, or a parent in that position, the district liaison is usually the best first contact. Teachers and school counsellors can also help, and many colleges have staff who support students who have experienced homelessness.

Why his story still resonates

Griffin Furlong’s achievement is often told as a lesson in determination, and it is one. It is also a reminder that talent is spread everywhere while opportunity is not. He succeeded through his own effort, but also with a father and brother who stayed together, teachers who noticed him, a school that celebrated him and thousands of strangers who chose to help.

The line from Paulo Coelho’s novel The Alchemist that was often attached to his story, “When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it,” is comforting. Real life usually asks for something more practical: people around a struggling student who are willing to see what is happening and offer a hand.

Sources: UPI (May 2014); NBC Miami (June 2014); AOL News (July 2014); Wikipedia: McKinney–Vento Homeless Assistance Act.

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