Being homeless coping with all the typical teenage tribulations, this teeen still maintained a GPA high enough to become valedictorian.
At the age of 18, Griffin Furlong attended Florida Coast High School in Jacksonville in 2014. Despite his difficulties in life, he still maintained a GPA high enough to become valedictorian.
Much like other valedictorians across the country, the teen stood before his graduating class and delivered his final speech as a high school student. What he said made parents and faculty s.hocked.
Griffin told the crowd that everyone thought he excelled at school because he was smart but the reality wasn’t. He had no other choice and had everything to lose. Accordingly, Griffin’s mother left her life when he was six years old. His father struggled to work and raise him and his brother. Eventually, his family ended up living in a homeless shelter.
His family did spend some time living in a rental property, but eventually they were evicted. During the speech, Griffin recalled going to bed hungry and not knowing where his next meal would come from. The teen boy never experienced a real childhood. He remembers being treated as though he was less than a human being, and that’s when he decided to make something of himself.
Griffin knew that a solid education would help him in life and so he persevered and wound up graduating as valedictorian.
