Cadet encourages Dallas children to overcome adversity

  • Published
  • U.S. Air Force Academy Public Affairs
U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. --  Cadet 1st Class Yohance Salimu spoke to children about how he overcame adversity as a homeless teenager and become a U.S. Air Force Academy cadet June 24 at the Dallas Rainbow Days' Kid's University.

Rainbow Days is a Dallas-based nonprofit that works to support high-risk children. The organization teams with the University of Texas at Dallas to improve children's academic and social skills at its annual Kid's University summer camps. 

Salimu said he shares his story of struggle to encourage children to rise above their circumstances just as he has. In less than 10 years, he went from living on the streets to becoming an Academy geospatial science major scheduled to graduate in May and become an Air Force officer.

The cadet was raised in Los Angeles. When his family lost their apartment during an economic recession, Salimu spent three years living with friends, storing his clothes in school lockers, and seeking refuge in a homeless shelter with his 16 brothers and sisters.

He applied to the Academy and was accepted, but attended the U.S. Air Force Academy Preparatory School first to provide his family with extra income.

"I was trying to find a way to support my family while I was in college," Salimu said. "I had an ongoing internship in high school at the Aerospace Corporation as a lab technician, and my income had become a key component of my family's survival. I couldn't leave for college and pull away support from what is really important to me - my family."

Julia Santosuosso, a Rainbow Days official, said Salimus' advice to the children resonated.

"He said 'When measuring your success in life, be your own ruler,"' Santosuosso said. "We have no doubt that he will do incredible things in his life time."

Salimu told the children he looks forward to becoming an officer.

"It goes beyond saying that I don't take this opportunity at the Academy for granted," he said.