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Accepted by university, once-homeless teen made 2.5-hour trip to prep school each day

Posted at 6:24 PM, May 05, 2018
and last updated 2018-05-05 18:24:58-04

Norman, OK (KOCO) — “I’d get up in the morning at 5:10 a.m. in Norman,” Jordan McFadden said about his life since 2014. “I would leave for school at 6 in the morning and get to school at 8, so that is two hours.”

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Jordan McFadden rode his bike to a city bus stop and took a bus from Norman to Oklahoma City.

He worked hard to get into Harding Charter Preparatory High School in Oklahoma City but, as he was about to start, his dad found the family a home, which was something McFadden hadn’t had for a long time.

“At the time, we were living in a homeless shelter but it (the home) was in Norman,” McFadden said. “It wouldn’t be in Oklahoma City.”

He wanted both the home and the school.

I thought to myself, ‘I could go to a good school in Norman or go to the No. 1 school in the state in Oklahoma City,'” McFadden said. “So I decided to find a way to get there.”

So he rode his bike to a city bus stop and took a bus from Norman to Oklahoma City.

Then he biked to another bus stop and took another bus. Then he biked to Harding. It took him two hours to get to school and 2 1/2 hours to get home, every day.

“He is very committed to Harding and the hard work ethic that he has,” the school’s principal, Dr. Mylo Miller, said.

Miller said McFadden is a great example of perseverance. Most people at the school never realized how much he went through just to get there.

Then, the University of Oklahoma found out about him through his scholarship application.

“The time to get to school and his test scores,” Kayla Storrs, with OU Admissions and Recruitment,said. “We wanted him to come to school here.”

An incredible Oklahoman, McFadden made a way when it seemed as if there wasn’t one at all.

“I knew I had to pursue greatness and I knew it would pursue me,” McFadden said. “Things aren’t going to be handed to you. You have to make your own path.”