"The plants closed, everyone left, then Mom lost her job. Within weeks, we were on the streets living with the dropouts. I stole some school books, and Mom entered me for the Stanford entrance exam. I thought she was joking at first. I was filthy when I took it, this large hall full of healthy kids staring at me. I got the scholarship though. At first, they didn’t know how to let me know, had to hire the police to track me down.