Rehan Staton worked as a trash collector to pay for college. He woke up at 4am to clean dumpsters, then went to school, then went back to work. When he finally got home, he would stay up late to study. 'I was so motivated to make my dad proud... that it didn't feel that bad in the moment,' Rehan says of the people who supported him the whole way. '...All the people I worked with were formally incarcerated... and they were the first people to come around me as a community and said, 'Hey, why are you here? Go strive for something better.'' Through the great sacrifice of his family and the support system that raised him up, he was finally accepted into Harvard Law.
Staton, who attended the prestigious law school with the help of generous donors such as actor Tyler Perry, knows it takes a village.
“No one does it alone,” said Staton. “Just keep paying it forward.”
Rehan is preparing to graduate Harvard Law School next month, and now he’s helping workers in the same position he used to be in.
Staton says he’s fundraised more than $70,000 for service employees after a fateful interaction more than a year ago. He recalls greeting a campus custodian who was shocked he even acknowledged her.
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