Internet funds homeless valedictorian’s college education

A homeless Florida teen who was named valedictorian of his high school class last week will now get the opportunity to go to college thanks to help from the Internet.

According to WFTV, Griffin Furlong lost his mother to leukemia when he was 6 years old, and his family became homeless for two years. Furlong’s family moved into a home when he was in sixth grade, but struggled financially.

In April, his family lost their home again, just weeks before his high school graduation.

“At some point I wanted to quit,” he told WFTV. “It was horrible. A kid should not have to go through that.”

And now he won’t only graduate from high school with a 4.65 GPA next week, but he will be attending college with the help of generous people around the world who have donated to a GoFundMe page that was set up for him with the goal of raising $20,000 for college.

“Thank you to all my supporters,” Furlong wrote on the GoFundMe page. As of Thursday, the GoFundMe page had exceeded $34,000 in just seven days.

According to WTSP, Furlong plans to study civil engineering at Florida State University.

Contact Kira Terry at kterry@reviewjournal.com. Find her on Twitter: @kiraterry