In an extraordinary story, a volunteer cop from Queens went from life as a homeless person to making it to Harvard University, she is an inspiration for others.
Athena Capo-Battaglia, 18, always wanted to have higher education as she was convinced it would change her life.
The auxiliary NYPD officer said, “I felt I had to get into college because this is not where I want to stay,” she applied to colleges while living in a shelter.
“I was like, ‘OK, this is one way that I can get out and maybe in the future get a good job.’ ”
Her mother and she entered the shelter system two years ago as they couldn’t keep up with the house rent after her mom was diagnosed with breast cancer and her grandmother died.
“It was kind of hard for us to get into the groove of things,” she said. “We just didn’t have enough money to afford an apartment after a few years.
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“It happens to a lot more people than you think,” said Capo-Battaglia. “All kinds of people end up there for all kinds of reasons. It’s not just because people are lazy.”
There are 63,839 homeless people and 15,492 homeless families living in New York City shelters, says the Coalition for the Homeless.
She was living in a shelter in Jamaica, Queens, and then joined the auxiliary police, which helps the NYPD keep the public safe.
She volunteered with the 103rd Precinct.
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