22-05-2025
Homeless teen celebrates bright future as he's awarded several full scholarships
In a heart-warming defeat of homelessness, disadvantaged student Max Jones received several full scholarships to university after graduating high school as a homeless teen living in his car.
A teenage student who had to live in his car is being celebrated for his heart-warming triumph as he graduated high school with several full college scholarships.
19-year-old Max Jones revealed that he had been living in his car for several months while he attended George Wythe High School in Richmond, Virginia. He would then leave school to work a shift at a local restaurant before returning to his bed - the backseat of his car.
The teen shared his struggles with homelessness, telling Atlanta News First: "I went through a lot. I was homeless for a long period of time." Despite usual teens enjoying the freedom of adulthood and the end of their public schooling, Max was experiencing the terrifying results of a chaotic and unstable upbringing.
"I still wore the same clothes. They were never clean, they were never dirty. [I was] just wearing the same clothes. Like sweats, joggers, crocs," he said. Unfortunately, the senior student - equivalent to the British Year 13 sixth form student - recalled how living with his mother and half-siblings had been difficult sue to a shortage of money, thus making stable housing even harder to come by.
Max described how his mother was often absent because of their financial situation. He said "she did work a lot when we were growing up, an extreme amount" but that circumstances only got worse for himself after the father of his siblings resurfaced - only returning as a father to his biological children, opting to abandon Max and his mother.
All things considered, Jones was left to make the executive decision to remove himself from the situation. "I know my life is bad, so I took the bus. I paid for a ticket," said Max, who travelled to Richmond and enrolled himself to George Wythe Highschool.
Already an impressive feat, Max still suffered the instability of hopping across multiple homes, eventually running out of places to stay. In a last show of endurance, the teen managed to secure a car without the amount of money he had left, finally affording his own 'home'.
But whilst most teens are guaranteed a warm bed, clean clothes and a constant supply of nutritious food, Max was unable to shower or eat regular meals. "I'm not able to take showers, I'm not able to eat," he said.
With school spirit, Jones opened up about his teachers and mentors providing help whenever they could, some going so far as to feed and home him in hotels. "It wasn't every single day but every other day when they could," said the student.
Finally, Jones was provided a home by his local house of worship. According to Max, Pastor Robert Winfrey from the New Life Deliverance Tabernacle made a visit to the school, where he struck up a conversation with Max. The Pastor stated that he "wanted to make sure that he wasn't completely dismantled because of his situation". Winfrey then welcomed the schoolboy to his church cottage where he provided food, a clean bathroom and sleeping arrangements until he graduated.
'All he needed was that one push,' Winfrey told Atlanta First News. The accumulation of this charity and support resulted in Max's graduation where he received his high school diploma. Inspiringly, Max promised: "I'm going to change the world and I'm going to give back to everybody that gave to me. Everybody".
Since graduating, Max has already delivered with a promising start by acquiring full scholarships to several colleges, including Paine College in Augusta, Georgia, Virginia Union University in Richmond and Ohio State.
