From community college to Pulitzer finalist, journalist brings fresh insights to the University
This is one in a series of profiles showcasing some of Harvard’s stellar graduates. This one was written by the subject, a longtime journalist. When I started studying at Harvard in 2014, I worried I didn’t belong: I grew up on food stamps in a Florida trailer park, raised by a mother who never made it to the ninth grade. I went to a community college. I showed up for my first class at the Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE) as a single mom raising five kids with a partner who earned a living driving a tow truck. Ironically, I soon realized that I belonged not in spite of but because of these things. As I worked on my master’s degree in higher education, it became clear that what makes me different from the vast majority of my classmates — and the vast majority of students at top-tier colleges nationwide —...