Meet Jacob Lewis, just another 22-year-old from Cardiff, Wales.
Except that Lewis is homeless, and yet somehow managed to achieve four A* grades that have secured him a place to study law at the prestigious Cambridge University.
How did Lewis manage it? He studied, hard. In fact, he spent 12 hours every day in his college library studying towards his exams.
The young man could barely afford to eat after he was left homeless following a dispute with his family. He then lost his contract job at a nightclub when he asked for time-off to take his exams in history, law, sociology, and the Welsh Baccalaureate.
But his college — Coleg y Cymoedd (Welsh for Valleys College) in Nantgarw, near Pontypridd, South Wales — helped support him, even giving him living expenses and putting him up in a hotel when he had nowhere else to go.
Lewis achieved an impressive 100% in both his history and law A-levels.
Jacob Lewis from @ColegyCymoedd who we featured on @BBCWalesToday yesterday got the 4 A* grades he needed! #congrats pic.twitter.com/ByTinbJ5Wp
— Steffan Messenger (@SteffMess) August 13, 2015
“It’s been a hard fight,” Jacob told Huffington Post. “At the start of this year I was working 24 hours a week to support my studies and make ends meet, I was barely eating.
“At one point I became homeless and had to start sofa surfing. Having a permanent home with my family wasn’t an option.”
“I’m so incredibly grateful to the college for all they did for me. I’m the first in my family to go to university, It’s been a trying time but it has been worth it.”
https://twitter.com/ColegyCymoedd/status/631735798988165120/photo/1
Lewis has no firm career plans after university but says that he has “a sincere commitment to try and make the world a better place with the advantages that elite education will give me.”