When Gabriella White was 11 years old, “she had never met a book,” said her mom, Shannon O’Donnell.
O’Donnell and her husband, Joseph White, adopted the now 18-year-old Gabriella in 2008. “She just blossomed,” O’Donnell said proudly as she talked about her daughter’s accomplishments.
White worked hard, her mother said. And it paid off. She graduated from Normal Community West High School in the spring with a 4.49 GPA out of 5.0.
White will study psychology and criminology at the University of Illinois-Springfield in the fall with a full tuition waiver provided by the youth scholarship program of the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services.
The story was reported by the Chicago Sun-Times on July 22, 2016.
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