Abandoned Teen Dawn Loggins Graduates from Homeless Custodian to Harvard University

June 7, 2012— -- Dawn Loggins spent much of her life moving from one home to another and switching schools, but she never thought she'd be homeless.

During her senior year at Burns High School in Cleveland County, N.C., she was forced into "couch-surfing" at friends' houses and relying on her part-time job as a school custodian.

Next year should be better: She'll be attending Harvard University -- the only student from her school ever accepted there, according to ABC News station WSOC.

"I was kind of surprised," the 18-year-old said of learning she was accepted. "I didn't jump and down or scream or cry or anything, but I was happy. I guess I'm not easily exited. I'm not a very emotional person."

Last summer, after returning from a prestigious academic summer program in Raleigh, N.C., she found her parents were gone from the home they shared in North Carolina. She had no way to reach them because their phone services had been disconnected. It would be a few months before she learned that they had gone to Tennessee for a visit and decided to stay.

Before her homeless ordeal, Dawn recalled having to do homework by candlelight because the power had been disconnected and having to cook noodles on a wood stove after her mother and stepfather lost their jobs.

Focusing on her school work, she said, helped her deal with the family's circumstances.

"Education is a means to make something better of myself," she told ABC News.

Determined to complete her senior year at Burns after finding her parents missing, Dawn stayed for a few days at a time at the homes of friends until finally finding a home with Sheryl Kolton, a friend's mother who was also a custodian at the school.

Dawn's school year consisted of very long days. She woke up at 5:20 a.m. to get to school at 6 a.m. for two hours work as a custodian at her high school, a job she first started in her junior year.

Then, she would go through a schedule of tough classes, including AP U.S. history, AP calculus, and honors English, and various school clubs and honor societies. After school and two more hours of cleaning work, she'd still have hours of homework, often keeping her up until midnight or 2 a.m.

The late nights paid off. Dawn earned at 3.9 GPA and scored 2,110 on her SAT. She was committed to not just graduating high school -- her graduation was today -- but finding a way to go to college.

"A high school diploma doesn't mean anything if you don't do anything with it," she said.

She began applying to colleges with the help of her counselor and a friend of the school's principal. She initially applied to Davidson College, North Carolina State University, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, and Warner Wilson College. After the persistent urging of those helping her, she also applied to Harvard.

The acceptance letters started arriving, mostly in larger, thick envelopes. Then one day, an envelope arrived from Harvard.

"It was a small envelope; you never want a small envelope," she said.

However, inside was a letter admitting Dawn into the Harvard class of 2016.

Still, Dawn wasn't so sure that she would be heading to Massachusetts -- not until she was able to visit this spring, thanks to school staff pooling their money to pay for her trip.

"After visiting Harvard, I couldn't see myself anywhere else," she said.