Meet Dawn Sanders-Jordan, GSK Opportunity Scholar

Dawn Sanders Jordan’s childhood was anything but easy. She grew up with a mentally ill mother. Dawn would face the constant challenge of obtaining a proper education in a traditional school setting as afforded other children.

During her formative years, Dawn’s older brother taught her to read before he was removed from the home. His attentiveness would help spark her lifelong, avid love of reading and writing. This love would prove to be her refuge throughout the years.

In her teen years, Dawn was placed in foster care and enrolled in an alternative high school. Though her examinations showed her reading, comprehension, and writing skills to be at a collegiate level, Dawn lacked social interaction skills. Instead of staying in the high school, she successfully pursued a GED. Her high school awarded her an honorary high school diploma, as well.

Dawn is determined to defy the odds against her, and she has a dream fo