Homeless New Orleans Teen Becomes High School Valedictorian

A New Orleans, Louisiana, teenager has beaten the odds by becoming valedictorian of his high school while living in a homeless shelter.

After a “few trips and falls down” along the way, 19-year-old Elijah Hogan graduated from Walter L. Cohen High School at the top of his class last month, Good Morning America reported. 

He began high school with remote classes during the coronavirus lockdowns of 2020 before starting in-person learning — all while living in Covenant House, a youth homeless shelter.

“It’s been tough and rough, had a few trips and falls down, [but] I’m alright,” Hogan told the outlet of his senior year at the charter school. 

Despite his circumstances, the young man graduated with a near-perfect 3.93 GPA and became one of two class-of-2024 valedictorians at Cohen.

In his May 24 graduation speech, he delivered a big “thank you” to the community who helped him succeed.

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“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 said.

He explained that the speech “was more of 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.”

Some of Hogan’s greatest supporters have been Jana DeCoster, Cohen’s director of student activities and Jarkayla Cobb, his case worker at Covenant House.

“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,” the new graduate said.

DeCoster shared just how “special” she believes Hogan to be to overcome such adversity with a gracious attitude.

“All of our students experience different levels of trauma, different experiences, and I think Elijah recognizes, like, yes, he had adults in his corner, but all of our students who made it to graduation also had adults in their corner,” DeCoster told GMA. “And it is rare that they get thanked at graduation on such a large stage … the fact that he is so gracious to think of, again, not just himself, he’s thinking of all of his classmates, that’s just really special.”

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“Being in a homeless shelter is traumatic. Whatever you went through to get you here is traumatic,” Cobb added.

According to the case worker, Hogan was “very shy” when they first met. 

“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,” she explained.

The 19-year-old mot has his eyes set on the Xavier University of Louisiana, where he hopes to major in graphic design this fall. 

Hogan left some advice for fellow students. 

“There is a time and place where you can have fun, but try 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,” he said.