Hardworking teen who grew up homeless gets offers from 65 colleges after finishing top of his high school class

By JAMES CIRRONE, US NEWS REPORTER Published: 21:38, 8 May 2026 | Updated: 21:51, 8 May 2026 A high school student in South Los Angeles, who was homeless for portions of his childhood, has been accepted to 65 different colleges after he earned a 4.4 GPA. Lamont Newell, a 17-year-old senior at Verbum Dei Jesuit High School, had offers from the University of Notre Dame in Indiana and Darmouth, an Ivy League college in New Hampshire. After weighing his dozens of options, he picked Columbia University, another Ivy, where he will study industrial engineering on a full academic scholarship. Columbia is one of the most selective schools in the nation, admitting only 4.2 percent of applicants into its undergraduate class of 2030. To have any hope of getting into an elite university like Columbia, students need to ace all their classes, which should all be at the AP or IB level. Scoring highly on the SAT or ACT is also crucial, as well as having plenty of extracurricular activities. Newell has long been an exceptionally talented student, learning to code as a kid while at summer camp. Years later, he became his school's valedictorian. 'I felt proud. I never thought I'd make it that far, to be able to go into Ivy League, especially New York City,' Newell told KABC-TV. 'One of my goals is actually to create an institution where I teach black kids how to work in STEM.' Newell grew up in South Park, a majority Latino neighborhood in South LA. His mother, Antanika Barnes, had him when she was 21 years old and faced significant struggles while raising him. Lamont Newell, a formerly homeless 17-year-old senior high school senior in South Los Angeles, holds up his acceptance letters from the University of Notre Dame, Dartmouth College and Columbia University. Newell chose Columbia, where he'll study industrial engineering on a full academic scholarship Newell credits much of his success to his mother, Antanika Barnes, who had him at 21 and raised him as a single mother. Even during bouts of homelessness, Barnes was able to put herself through college Pictured: A young Newell studying. He learned to code at a very young age and became the valedictorian at his high school with a 4.4 GPA 'There were times where we didn't have a roof over our head, but we had a car,' Barnes said, explaining that she and Newell would sometimes sleep in a parking lot. Newell had an immediate role model in Barnes, who was a single mother and managed to put herself through college. 'As a parent, it is your duty to find out what your kids are good at, and I knew my son academically was a high achiever from a very young age,' Barnes said. 'I probably couldn't have done it myself, but it was my job to figure out who could help and where I could get those resources from.' Now, he is following in her footsteps and will become the first man in his family to graduate high school and go to college. Barnes said her son's achievement is huge for their family, who have been affected by gang violence and incarceration.  'Now the youth that come after him are going to see that there's another way out,' Barnes said. Newell feels the same way and wants to set an example for his younger brother. 'I realized if I didn't try hard enough, who would for him?' Newell said. 'You may feel like during your situation there is no path out, but there is always an exit to your destination,' Newell added. 'In a million years, we could have never thought we would be in this situation.'  The comments below have not been moderated. The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline. To do this we will link your MailOnline account with your Facebook account. We’ll ask you to confirm this for your first post to Facebook. You can choose on each post whether you would like it to be posted to Facebook. Your details from Facebook will be used to provide you with tailored content, marketing and ads in line with our Privacy Policy.