Listen Live
St. Jude Radiothon 2024
CLOSE

At first glance, you’d think Destyni Tyree leads a charmed life.

She was voted prom queen by her peers and was captain of the cheerleading squad. She also completed high school in two years, earning a 4.0 grade point average and snagging a full-ride scholarship to Potomac State College of West Virginia University.

“Accomplished,” Tyree, 16, told ABC News. “That’s how I feel right now.”

But behind the work ethic and will to succeed is a difficult upbringing, an adolescence marred by anger and fist fights, and the reality of living in claustrophobic conditions with 243 other families in one of the most notorious homeless shelters in Washington, D.C.

“It’s OK,” Tyree said. “At first, I didn’t like it because I was used to my own space.”

Tyree’s mother lost her job a couple of years ago, and the family struggled to support itself in a city with sky-rocketing rent and ever-increasing cost of living expenses. They made the difficult decision of moving into D.C. General, the city’s largest homeless shelter.

CLICK HERE to read story

source: Newsone/ABCNews

Leave a Reply