Watch the video of New Jersey teen accepted to 17 colleges:

Video Credit: Youtube/CBS New York

A 17-year-old high-school student, who had a rough past, has been accepted to 17 different colleges.

Dylan Chidick, who is the oldest of three siblings and grew up without a father, was once homeless.

His family spent years on the streets and fought to overcome homelessness.

“Seeing my family become vulnerable and opening themselves up to accepting help is basically what created my drive to never experience that ever again,” Chidick said.

His mother, Khadine Phillip contacted the nonprofit Women Rising which helped to secure housing for the family.

“It has been hard financially, we have been homeless,” said Dylan’s mother, Khadine Phillip.

Roseann Mazzeo, who works with Women Rising, said of Phillip:

“She is a great example in doing all that’s necessary to help her children.”

Dylan said: “Putting herself out there like that, that made me more determined to never let us get back in that situation again,”

Dylan, who applied himself in school and became the president of his senior class, applied to 20 schools and received acceptance letters from 17 of them.

Dylan will be the first member of his family to go to college.

“I have to have a lot of determination. There has been a lot of people saying, ‘You’re not going to achieve this.’ And me, getting these acceptance letters kind of verifies what I have been saying, that I can do it, and I will do it.”

 

 

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