“Take pride in how far you have come,” he said during his valedictorian speech on May 24th. “Have faith in how far you can go.”
Over the past few years, Hogan said he kept those words close to his heart.
“I had to finish my education,” he said in an interview with The Washington Post. Despite his difficult circumstances, he explained, he was determined to graduate with the rest of his class of 67 students.
During Hogan’s first two years of high school, he lived with his grandmother. At the start of Hogan’s junior year, though, the house she leased went up for sale, and they had 30 days to relocate. His grandmother moved into a senior living facility, and Hogan went off on his own.
“I wanted to live independently to lift the burden off her shoulders,” said Hogan, 19.
It wasn’t an easy decision to make.
“I had my head spinning. I didn’t know what to do,” he said. “I was scared.”
Hogan described his childhood as “splendid,” but everything changed when his mother died on his eighth birthday. Hogan and his siblings — two brothers and one sister — moved in with their grandmother. Over the years, his siblings dispersed, moving in with other family members elsewhere or living alone.
“What was saddening was that every relative I know is all out of state,” said Hogan, whose father lives outside Louisiana.
About two years ago, Hogan moved into the Covenant House New Orleans, a homeless shelter for youth under 22.
“When I first met him, he was so shy and enclosed,” said Jarkayla Cobb, Hogan’s case manager at Covenant House. “His goals were very limited.”
Hogan is proof, though, that “your circumstances do not define who you become,” Cobb said.
Cobb was instantly struck by Hogan’s sharp intellect and artistic ability. He won an art award at his school, and he is especially strong in the humanities, his teachers said.
“He’s gifted,” Cobb said.
She, as well as other staff at Covenant House and Hogan’s teachers, saw his potential. They encouraged him to stay in school rather than drop out and get a job — which he strongly considered doing. He ultimately listened.
“He was always present. He did not miss any days of school,” said Robert McGriff, an English teacher at Walter L. Cohen High School who has known Hogan for about three years.
Hogan was at first hesitant to tell anyone about his living situation.
“I didn’t really talk to people because I didn’t know how I would be seen,” said Hogan. “I kept to myself.”
He did, however, confide in a few mentors, including McGriff.
“He initially didn’t want to take any help,” McGriff said, adding that he helped Hogan in whatever ways he could, such as ensuring he had basic necessities.
“He did not let it defeat him,” McGriff said. “He wasn’t walking around with his head down. He adapted.”
Hogan completed high school with a 3.96 GPA and received a full tuition scholarship to a four-year program at Xavier University of Louisiana, where he plans to study graphic design and art.
“I’ll be looking forward to that,” he said.
Hogan created a GoFundMe page to help cover the cost of housing, food and other basic needs. He is one of four Black male valedictorians in New Orleans, reported the TV news station WDSU.
“Elijah is a beautiful reflection of what happens when Black kids in New Orleans get the services and opportunities they deserve. They shine,” said Jerel Bryant, the chief executive officer of Collegiate Academies, a nonprofit public charter school network that operates Walter L. Cohen High School. “That’s what he’s doing and we’re incredibly proud of him.”
Bryant said more than 95 percent of students at the school are economically disadvantaged, and 18 of the school’s 375 students are either experiencing homeless, or are in an insecure housing situation.
Hogan’s path easily could have gone in a different direction.
“There are a lot of people in his situation that could have ended up on the street,” said McGriff. “I’ve seen him grow tremendously.”
“He’s ready to go on to college, and I’m very excited about that,” he added.
Hogan said he couldn’t have done it without the unwavering care from staff at his school and Covenant House.
“How I did this was mainly from the support that was given to me,” he said.
He hopes to pay it forward someday and inspire others to push through hardships. Sharing his story, he said, is one way of doing that.
“Don’t let yourself get down by your limitations,” he said. “Use them to push yourself forward without any restraint.”
