An 18-year-old high school mom, Trameka Pope, who struggled through many obstacles to emerge as the best graduating student of the Wendell Phillips Academy High School, Chicago, Illinois, United States has been awarded lots of scholarships and is now a Master’s Degree holder.

Trameka who was faced with the challenge of being homeless and also having a child to cater for beat her colleagues in high school and was later crowned as the school’s valedictorian. “I always said that I wanted to make change and I wanted to be in the history books, and I started with myself,” She told Fox 3.

“I didn’t give up. I pushed myself hard. And my baby motivated me every day because I wanted to provide for her and I also didn’t want to be a statistic,” she added.

After her outstanding high school performance, Trameka was offered admission into 25 colleges with all of them offering a scholarship award worth over $610,000. She however said she planned to attend the Western Illinois University in Macomb, Illinois, United States.

Trameka thereafter enrolled for her Bachelor’s Degree in Public Health at Western Illinois University. She graduated with her Degree honours in 2018.

Immediately after concluding her Bachelor’s Degree program, she enrolled for her Master’s Degree also in Public Health and was awarded her Master’s Degree in 2021.

Trameka was not only exceptional in her academics and despite her challenges, she was a cheerleader, a member of National Honor Society, and she even participated in several other extracurricular activities. She also held down a job at a local grocery store while she was a student.

Today, not only has she bagged a Master’s Degree, she is also brand ambassador Big Brothers Big Sisters of Metropolitan Chicago, a non-profit organization in Chicago, Illinois that provides mentoring to children and their families.

“No matter what background you come from, it doesn’t matter if you have a child as a teen, no matter what people say about you, you still can, you can make it, and you can become something,” Trameka Jackson said to inspire others.