MY PARENTS WALKED AWAY FROM ME AT THE HOSPITAL WHEN I WAS 13 — MY MOTHER WENT PALE WHEN THE DEAN CALLED MY NAME

trembled.

“Rachel adopted me when I was 14. She worked double shifts to pay for my needs. She stayed up late helping me catch up on the schoolwork I’d missed. She told me I could be anything I wanted, do anything I dreamed. When I said I wanted to go to Johns Hopkins, she said, ‘Then that’s where you’re going.’ And here I am.”

The crowd applauded. I continue reading …