A Louisiana student living in a homeless shelter overcame his struggles and graduated as valedictorian from his New Orleans high school this spring.
Elijah Hogan, 19, accepted his diploma as the top of Walter L. Cohen High School class of 2024 this spring and plans to attend college in the fall.
But it wasn’t easy. Hogan overcame years of homelessness, living in Covenant House — a shelter serving youth under 22 in New Orleans
He attributes his success to all of the people at the shelter and his school who went out of their way to help him excel as well as his own hard work and determination.
“I have people that were there to help me get through it. And without them I wouldn’t have been where I’m at now, as a valedictorian,” Hogan told ABC’s Good Morning America.
“As time went on, I started to build up relationships, had to meet some wonderful people, got to know a lot of people, as well as forming relationships and trust with them,” he said.
The new graduate finished his senior year with a 3.93 GPA and is one of two valedictorians in the 2024 class at Cohen, a New Orleans charter school.
His May 24th graduation speech, he said, was essentially “a thank-you letter to the school, to the staff, to the students and to their parents for helping us to get past our school years and get us where we are now graduating, going off in the world.”
When he began school, Hogan said he was a nervous teen before he blossomed into the confident young man he is today through the strong relationships he built there.
He particularly thanked Jana DeCoster, the director of student activities at Cohen High School, and Jarkayla Cobb, Hogan’s Rites of Passage case worker at Covenant House.
Cobb recalled watching Hogan slowly come out of his shell over the years since he first arrived at the shelter.
“Being in a homeless shelter is traumatic. Whatever you went through to get you here is traumatic,” Cobb told Good Morning America.
“He was very shy,” she continued. “He had very little words at first, so it’s just awesome to see how much he’s developed and become so well-spoken over the last seven or eight months that I’ve been a part of his life and just been able to push and encourage him to go after everything that the world has to offer.”
Hogan, an artist, will attend Xavier University of Louisiana this fall, where he plans to major in graphic design.
The university has offered him tuition assistance. To cover housing costs and other living expenses, Hogan has launched a GoFundMe campaign asking for donations.
He urged others looking to follow his example to “keep yourself organized on some of your education as well — because without your education, you will not be able to get through the hardships and meet the people that helped you along the way.”
