At the Head of Her Class and Homeless Even Melson isn't sure how she's managed to successfully juggle school (a 4.0 GPA), athletics (cross-country, track, volleyball), and homelessness. "I just know when I have a goal, I try not to let anything get in the way," she says. That goal, even before becoming homeless, has been to graduate from medical school and become a forensic pathologist. She says her father's murder when she was a baby inspired her to pursue the career. But it's never been easy. "Along the way, we stumbled and we started struggling as a family," she says. When those struggles began, she considered quitting sports and getting a job. But her coaches and teachers convinced her otherwise. "They were just like, 'Don't worry, you're doing the best you can—keep it up, just do what you have to do,'" she says. "They were always there for me. They took a lot of stress from my mind." But she says she still worries about what will happen to her family after she heads off to college in the fall, even if the campus is just a few miles away. She's hopeful her younger brother, who's 14 years old and a talented athlete, will continue to find a haven in sports. In the meantime, she has advice for other homeless kids: Don't let your situation define you. "I would just say keep your head up because you never know what's going to happen," she says. "You just have to have hope and faith and don't let it change who you are. Don't become ashamed and don't be embarrassed. And just k

Answer 1

eep pushing forward because there is always a way out."