Profile

Elegance Bratton’s Amazing Journey From Homeless Shelter to Ivy League

GS student-veteran Elegance Giiavoni left his home at age 16 and spent 10 years in homelessness before joining the Marines. His struggle as a black, gay homeless youth is featured in his upcoming documentary film Pier Kids: The Life.

February 21, 2014
Elegance Bratton holding a camera on an outside video shoot

Elegance served as a Combat Camera Production Specialist in Camp H. M. Smith in Hawaii shooting videos and taking photography. He is pursuing a degree in African American Studies and Anthropology at the School of General Studies.

“Elegance embodies the core values of a liberal education.  The documentary is even more powerful because, as a homeless gay youth of color, he experienced what the pier kids, who have been invisible and forgotten for years, still experience today,” said School of General Studies Dean Peter J. Awn.

Read the full story on the ABC News website.

Tags
Student Profile Veterans