Bronx Native Attending 2015 State of the Union as an Honored Guest

by Stephanie Colombini | 01/19/2015 | 7:27pm

Bronx Native Attending 2015 State of the Union as an Honored Guest

It's become tradition for presidents to invite guests to the State of the Union whose stories of tragedy or triumph highlight an issue or public policy. One of this year's guests overcame a number of obstacles growing up in New York City.
Anthony Mendez has been through a lot for your average 19 year-old. The Bronx native says he lost his best friend to neighborhood violence in high school a year before his family was evicted from their home and forced to move to a shelter in Brooklyn.  
 
Mendez says his love for running track led him to opt out of transferring to a school closer to the shelter.  Instead, he commuted two hours each way to the Urban Academy School for Careers in Sports in the Bronx.
 
"I have to do what I have to do for my future," he said.  "As much as my family struggled, we know that we still had to move forward and we couldn't just let those bad times keep us down."
 
Mendez became the first member of his family to graduate high school and is now a scholar athlete at the University of Hartford in Connecticut.  
 
He says he wants to serve as an example for State of the Union viewers that people from low income areas can rise above their circumstances and make a difference in society. 

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