Photo: speakingpics/Depositphotos
Many high school students face academic pressure and anxiety, but one young man named Max Jones has had additional challenges. For several months, the student had to live out of his car, going to class in the morning before working in a restaurant in the afternoon to support himself. Now, at 19 years old, the future looks much brighter.
“It was just long, long months of me just not having anywhere to go,” Jones told CBS 6. “I want people to know that there are people like me in the world. I went through a lot.” Jones’ situation was the result of family troubles, as he, his mom, and half-siblings had difficulty finding stable housing—a situation worsened by his and his siblings’ fathers being absent, forcing Jones to step up into an adult’s role from a young age. “As they were pulled away, that’s when my mom started getting pulled away more mentally,” he explains.
The complicated environment prompted Jones to book a bus ticket from North Carolina, where he grew up, to Richmond, Virginia, to build a life of his own. “I went through a lot,” Jones told WDTV 5. “I was homeless for a long period of time.” After bouncing around multiple homes, he was able to purchase a car with the money he earned from working at a restaurant. Given the hardships, this moment meant a lot for the young student. “That car was my best friend,” he says. “For me it represents adulthood.”
At Richmond High School for the Arts, teachers and mentors began to notice that Jones was sleeping, eating, and studying out of his car. In an effort to help him, they set him up in hotels when they could. During a visit to the school, Pastor Robert Winfrey of the New Life Deliverance Tabernacle learned of Jones’ plight, seeing all the potential of this young student, he decided to step in.
“When I asked him about his GPA and the first thing he said was it could be better, and I asked what that looks like and he said he had a little better than 3.0,” Winfrey recalls. “All I could say is wow. All he needed was that one push and thank God, so far he got that push.” The pastor offered Jones a place to stay, shower, and study at the church. “I wanted to make sure that he wasn’t completely dismantled because of his situation,” Winfrey says.
Supported in a way he had never been before, the doors began to open for the high school senior. “It kind of lifted the weight off my shoulders, but it gave me more confidence to keep doing what I’m doing,” Jones shares. Now, the outlook is even better. Not only has he picked up his high school diploma, but Jones received over $100,000 in full-ride scholarships from different universities, including Ohio State and Paine College in Augusta.
Ultimately, the teen has chosen to attend Virginia Union University in the fall. Jones says, “I’m going to change the world and I’m going to give back to everybody that gave to me. Everybody.”
Una publicación compartida por WTVR CBS 6 (@cbs6)
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