Mr Uncle Leroy
All Star
Woah
Breh used to work in Sanitation, now he going to Harvard Law
- Thread starter Mr Uncle Leroy
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Mr Uncle Leroy
All Star
For three years, Rehan Staton awoke before sunrise.
He would dress in his neon-yellow uniform about 4 a.m. and head to Bates Trucking & Trash Removal in Bladensburg, Md. He spent his mornings hauling trash and cleaning dumpsters, then went to class at the University of Maryland.
When there was no time to shower between work and class, he would sit at the back of the lecture hall to avoid inevitable glares and judgment from his peers, he said.
Although it wasn’t Staton’s first time being a sanitation worker, he hopes it is his last: The 24-year-old Maryland man was recently accepted to Harvard Law School.
The road to receiving the acceptance letter was long and bumpy, he said. For many years, Staton and his family struggled with financial insecurity, illness and abandonment.
Rehan Staton and his brother Reggie worked for Bates Trucking & Trash Removal periodically for several years to help their father pay the bills. (Family photo)
Rehan Staton and his brother Reggie worked for Bates Trucking & Trash Removal periodically for several years to help their father pay the bills. (Family photo)
“Things were pretty good until I was 8 years old,” said Staton, who grew up in Bowie, Md., and still lives there. “That’s when everything went south.”
“My mom abandoned my dad, my brother and I when she moved back to Sri Lanka,” said Staton. “I was probably too young to notice some of the things that happened, but I know it was bad.”
After his mother left, Staton’s grades started slipping, he said.
“Things just kept falling on us,” Staton said. “My dad lost his job at one point and had to start working three jobs in order to provide for us. It got to the point where I barely got to see my father, and a lot of my childhood was very lonely.”
Although his father worked tirelessly to provide for his sons, the family of three struggled financially.
“There were often times without food on the table and no electricity in the house,” Staton recalled. “That was common throughout my childhood.”
At school, Staton remembers receiving no support. His teachers, he said, showed little faith in his academic abilities.
“One of them even called me handicapped,” Staton said.
Growing up, Staton said, he was “losing in everything.”
“I had no social life, home life was just horrible, and I hated school more than anything,” he said.
But there was one bright spot.
“I was really good at sports,” Staton said. His dream of becoming a professional boxer, he said, is what kept him going.
In 10th grade at Bowie High School, Staton hit a setback when he became ill with digestive problems and rotator-cuff injuries, quashing his hopes of pursuing a career as an athlete.
“I couldn’t go to the doctor because we didn’t have health insurance,” Staton said. “I was crushed.”
In 12th grade, Staton applied to college, knowing that there was little hope of being accepted given his low SAT score. “I got rejected by 100 percent of the schools that I applied to,” he said.
That’s when he went to work at Bates Trucking & Trash Removal. But to his surprise, it was his co-workers there who encouraged him to reapply to college.
“The other sanitation workers were the only people in my life who uplifted me and told me I could be somebody,” Staton said.
Brent Bates, whose father owns the trash company, helped Staton get in touch with a professor at Bowie State University, who assisted him with appealing his rejection from the school. Once Staton was ultimately accepted, his academic life finally began to flourish.
“I got a 4.0 GPA, I had a supportive community, and I became the president of organizations,” Staton said.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/life...s-accepted-harvard-law-school/?outputType=amp
He would dress in his neon-yellow uniform about 4 a.m. and head to Bates Trucking & Trash Removal in Bladensburg, Md. He spent his mornings hauling trash and cleaning dumpsters, then went to class at the University of Maryland.
When there was no time to shower between work and class, he would sit at the back of the lecture hall to avoid inevitable glares and judgment from his peers, he said.
Although it wasn’t Staton’s first time being a sanitation worker, he hopes it is his last: The 24-year-old Maryland man was recently accepted to Harvard Law School.
The road to receiving the acceptance letter was long and bumpy, he said. For many years, Staton and his family struggled with financial insecurity, illness and abandonment.
Rehan Staton and his brother Reggie worked for Bates Trucking & Trash Removal periodically for several years to help their father pay the bills. (Family photo)
Rehan Staton and his brother Reggie worked for Bates Trucking & Trash Removal periodically for several years to help their father pay the bills. (Family photo)
“Things were pretty good until I was 8 years old,” said Staton, who grew up in Bowie, Md., and still lives there. “That’s when everything went south.”
“My mom abandoned my dad, my brother and I when she moved back to Sri Lanka,” said Staton. “I was probably too young to notice some of the things that happened, but I know it was bad.”
After his mother left, Staton’s grades started slipping, he said.
“Things just kept falling on us,” Staton said. “My dad lost his job at one point and had to start working three jobs in order to provide for us. It got to the point where I barely got to see my father, and a lot of my childhood was very lonely.”
Although his father worked tirelessly to provide for his sons, the family of three struggled financially.
“There were often times without food on the table and no electricity in the house,” Staton recalled. “That was common throughout my childhood.”
At school, Staton remembers receiving no support. His teachers, he said, showed little faith in his academic abilities.
“One of them even called me handicapped,” Staton said.
Growing up, Staton said, he was “losing in everything.”
“I had no social life, home life was just horrible, and I hated school more than anything,” he said.
But there was one bright spot.
“I was really good at sports,” Staton said. His dream of becoming a professional boxer, he said, is what kept him going.
In 10th grade at Bowie High School, Staton hit a setback when he became ill with digestive problems and rotator-cuff injuries, quashing his hopes of pursuing a career as an athlete.
“I couldn’t go to the doctor because we didn’t have health insurance,” Staton said. “I was crushed.”
In 12th grade, Staton applied to college, knowing that there was little hope of being accepted given his low SAT score. “I got rejected by 100 percent of the schools that I applied to,” he said.
That’s when he went to work at Bates Trucking & Trash Removal. But to his surprise, it was his co-workers there who encouraged him to reapply to college.
“The other sanitation workers were the only people in my life who uplifted me and told me I could be somebody,” Staton said.
Brent Bates, whose father owns the trash company, helped Staton get in touch with a professor at Bowie State University, who assisted him with appealing his rejection from the school. Once Staton was ultimately accepted, his academic life finally began to flourish.
“I got a 4.0 GPA, I had a supportive community, and I became the president of organizations,” Staton said.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/life...s-accepted-harvard-law-school/?outputType=amp
Respect
cole phelps
Superstar
Inspiring 
dabestkeptsecret
Superstar
Black excellence
get these nets
Veteran
from Roc
to Stringer Bell
to Atty. Cedric Daniels
cued
"You're a smart guy, if you go back to school...you'll probably end up at Harvard. Believe."
"You're a smart guy, if you go back to school...you'll probably end up at Harvard. Believe."
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This is a great never give up story. Mom fleed to Sri Lanka. Sports fell through. He admits his HIGH SCHOOL grades were bad and did bad on the SAT. Most people who get accepted into anything Harvard have the opposite credentials, respectively. His co-workers encouraged him to re-apply to college and the rest was history.
get these nets
Veteran
His co-workers encouraging him was the best part of the story. These young men out here have all the potential in the world. Some of them just need that support and encouragement to help them realize it.
This is a GREAT story. Congrats on this brother for persevering and also I did not know that Bates Sanitation was black owned.
The son of a local black business owner used his connections at the local HBCU to get him into school and eventually Harvard Law
The son of a local black business owner used his connections at the local HBCU to get him into school and eventually Harvard Law
My allergies Dammit