Rehan Staton Knew He Had To Turn Things Around But What He Achieved Is Incredible
With a global pandemic causing so much chaos in the world, it seems that our news screens have only ever got bad news for us.
It is therefore a welcome change when an uplifting story of triumph through adversity comes along which can capture a nation.
This is exactly what has happened with 24-year-old Rehan Staton, whose story about getting into Harvard Law School has gone viral.
Getting into prestigious Law School is an incredible achievement in itself, as its famous alumni include many senior politicians and lawyers including one Barack Obama, but it was Staton’s journey up until this moment that captured our hearts.
Staton’s early life was a struggle. At just 8-years-old his mother left him and his brother Reggie, leaving his father to to take care of the young boys.
In order to make sure that his children had the basic necessities his father would work 3 jobs just to make ends meet. Witnessing his father give up his social life for him and his brother to live had a profound impact on the youngster as he saw first hand what sacrifice and hard work looked like – something he would come to later rely on.
In an interview with Today Rehan explained that during his childhood there were “times when we didn’t have electricity” or “food in the fridge” even though his father was working as hard as he possibly could.
With no mother and his father constantly working, Rehan’s school work inevitably took a turn for the worse which he attributed to lack of focus as the youngster had his eye on the sports-field, as he believed, like so many others, it offered a path out of poverty.
However, also like so many others who dream of becoming professional athletes his ambitious goals never materialised and the high school graduate was stuck in limbo as all of his college applications had also been rejected.
With no real direction in his life, he and his brother started collecting trash with Bates Trucking and Trash in order to provide the family with some extra income.
It was during this time working for the company that the college reject got one of the biggest support circles outside of his immediate family … something that he has never forgotten and he believes is the reason behind where he is today.
He was completely shocked that his work colleagues who he had never met were championing him and telling him that he was too intelligent not to be going to college.
With renewed motivation, Staton claims that it was at this time he couldn’t “not fail” with so many people behind him encouraging him to make something of his life.
He got accepted in to the University of Maryland before disaster struck.
His father suffered a stroke back in 2017 and the freshman had to make the decision to either go back and support his father in order to save their family home or carry on with college.
He decided to do both.
The young man not only had to deal with the responsibility of his future but also the responsibility of looking after the man who had given up everything for his two sons.
His daily routine was hard – before going to college to attend lectures he worked the 4am shift at the trash collecting company that had treated him so well. He became so committed his goals of both providing for his family and completing his education, he even became the student commencement speaker at graduation.
However, the biggest prize was still yet to come as the college graduate took the Law School Admission Test (LSAT) where he passed in the 80th percentile. This was enough for him to get accepted into Harvard Law school and is where we find the youngster today.
Although he has been through a lot, Rehan believes this is just the beginning and with the support from those around him he believes he is destined for big things.
We couldn’t agree more and look forward to see what will happen next in this inspiring individual’s life.