Meet 24-year-old Rehan Staton, a former garbage collector who was recently accepted into Harvard. What makes this story incredible is the fact that despite facing great adversities his entire life, he never let it stand in the way of achieving his goal. Going from garbage collection to studying in Harvard is no small feat! And it didn’t come easy either.
Rehan Staton used to wake up at 4AM for his garbage collecting job—a job he took on in the hope of supporting his family who were constantly struggling to make ends meet.
Meet Rehan Staton, a former garbage collector who was recently admitted to Harvard Law School
Image credits: Rehan Staton
You see, when Rehan was eight, his mother abandoned the family, leaving behind his brother, his dad, and himself. The once-stable household ended up running into financial difficulties leading Rehan’s dad to take on three jobs, working virtually around the clock in hopes of raising two sons and ensuring their future success.
The situation got progressively worse, as Rehan explained, as there were days the three of them struggled with food. There were times when the electricity would just be shut off because they couldn’t pay the bills on time. Besides this, many of their relatives ostracized them leaving them to find support only amongst each other.
Despite his education suffering as a result and even a teacher suggesting he be transferred to a special education class, Rehan caught a break and was tutored to help his performance in school. He ended up finishing the year with an Honor Roll. He continued improving his academic stance, and even picking up boxing with a dream to turn it into a job.
Rehan comes from a broken family that has been struggling financially for years
Image credits: Rehan Staton
To help his dad and brother make ends meet, he got a job working as a garbage collector
Image credits: Rehan Staton
Unfortunately, in the 12th grade, Rehan suffered multiple shoulder injuries, effectively destroying all of his chances of going pro after graduation. After applying to multiple colleges and, unfortunately, receiving rejections from all of them, Rehan decided to take on garbage collecting. And that’s when his life started turning the tide.
In context, most of Rehan’s colleagues were formerly incarcerated. It’s a job that is often done by those who have no other choice in life, so many were surprised to see a bright young man working in garbage collection. Soon, Rehan’s colleagues started urging him to go to school or do something that could allow him to live out his full potential.
His colleagues ended up turning to the son of the company’s owner, Brent Bates, who subsequently introduced Rehan to a professor he knew at Bowie State University. The professor was so impressed with Rehan that he appealed to the university’s admissions council and Rehan was soon admitted.
He had very little support, save for his immediate family and friends, and his pro boxer career was cut short after a serious shoulder injury and rejection by many schools
Image credits: Rehan Staton
Seeing a bright and promising young man, his colleagues at the trash collection job pushed him to pursue further education in Bowie State University
Image credits: Rehan Staton
Rehan explained that all of the people in his life whom he was supposed to look up to were always putting him down and making him feel bad about himself. However, when he went down to the “bottom” of the social hierarchy where all of the formerly incarcerated sanitation workers are, this was when he was actually uplifted.
With immense support from his brother, father, and friends, two years of successful studies at Bowie State flew by and Rehan transferred to the University of Maryland where he graduated in 2018. After this, he landed a political consulting job at Robert Bobb Group and continued to study for his LSAT.
Rehan again sent out a number of applications to nine colleges and universities, three of which were Ivy League, five were from the top 20 in the country, and one was a safety school. When decisions started coming in, his friends talked him into doing a decisions reactions video which he was completely against at first, but eventually gave in.
Rehan's supportive colleagues helped him get admitted into Bowie State Uni with a transfer to Maryland University from which he graduated in 2018
Image credits: The Education Trust
But he didn't stop here as he landed a political consultancy job and continued his studies for the LSATs
Image credits: Rehan Staton
By the time his answer from Harvard came in, Rehan was more or less comfortable with being filmed. He was nervous to find out whether he got in or not, as seen in the video provided in this article. Much to his surprise, he got in—Rehan got accepted into Harvard. And this was just one of several schools that finally accepted him.
News of this story went viral on the internet. The video of his reaction of getting into Harvard also began making rounds online. Many congratulated him saying that Rehan is proof that hard and perseverance does pay off and that they believe he’ll go on to do many great things in life.
After that, Rehan wrote an inspiring open letter to his brother Reggie, who was one of the few people providing immense support—so much that he dropped out of college to return to work and to ensure steady family income.
Just a few weeks ago, he got a letter from Harvard about his acceptance, which you can watch below (5:18)
Image credits: Rehan Staton
Now, there is also a GoFundMe campaign titled From Hauling Trash to Harvard Law that aims to gather some financial support for Rehan’s studies at Harvard. At the moment of this article, it has raised over $70,000 (out of $75,000) from over 1,100 donors in just 7 days. Carmie McCook, an executive communications coach based in Washington, DC, is coaching Rehan on how to become a better speaker and to also prepare him for his next big step in life.
Consider supporting him on his GoFundMe, and why not leave a comment below telling us what you thought about Rehan and his story of perseverance and hard work.
Many people online came out to congratulate Rehan, expressing their support for the hard working student
