He's 18 years old, just graduated from high school and he's homeless. But that's not stopping one Shreveport student from defying the odds. Melvin Sewell may look like a normal teenager, but he is quite unusual. Sewell is homeless. "My mom, she was unable to support me and my younger sister, so she abandoned us when I was 14 and my sister was 12 at a fire station in Jackson, Mississippi," Sewell said. Sewell was able to track down some relatives in Shreveport, and for a while he lived with them. But, that didn't last long. Ultimately, he found himself living in a room full of strangers at the Salvation Army. What's unusual is he also attended high school during the entire time. Sewell recently graduated from Caddo Magnet High School and thanks to his high school counselor, he was contacted by the support group at Volunteers of America. VOA supporters from all across the country have pitched in and contributed money to send Sewell to college. Something he never dreamed he would be able to afford on his own. Sewell left tuesday for Louisiana Tech in Ruston, all expenses paid. Sewell plans to study pre-med. He want to be a surgeon.
