By Joséphine Li
Recent college graduate Rehan Staton is a 24-year-old man from Maryland who used to collect garbage to pay through college. Despite all the hardships he experienced, now he’s heading to Harvard Law School.
Misery loves company. At that time, financial issues weren’t the only thing holding him back from pursuing his studies. This young man used to encounter several other difficulties including illness, pressure from family, and a major injury all at once, which almost made him quit his studies.
Rehan also had a tough childhood. His mother left the family and moved out of the country when he was 8-years old. Since then, his father had been struggling to raise Rehan and his brother alone, which affected Rehan’s studies in a negative way.
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However, after a period of hard work, Rehan managed to get back on the right track, his grades improved and he even got on the Honor Roll. At the end of his high school years, Rehan tried to apply to college but was unfortunately rejected from each of the schools that he applied to. That’s when he decided to work as a garbage man to support himself.
His co-workers at Bates Trucking & Trash Removal, mostly formerly incarcerated, discovered Rehan’s potential. They strongly supported him and endorsed him to the son of the company’s owner—Brent Bates. Bates then helped him enter Bowie State University, where he later became successful academically.
Rehan was grateful for all the support from his coworkers. “Throughout my entire life, I was always downplayed by the people who I was supposed to look up to, and they made me feel bad about myself. I had to go to the ‘bottom’ of the social hierarchy in order to be uplifted.”He said to the media.
Rehan transferred to University of Maryland after two years in Bowie State, where he graduated in 2018. He then worked with the Robert Bobb Group in political consulting while studying for the LSAT. Through hard work and perseverance, now Rehan has been admitted by several renowned prestigious law schools, including Harvard Law School, where he got a grant to cover most of his tuition. And he will begin his online classes soon.
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