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NEW YORK (FOX5NY) - Sebastian Robeck is a 17-year-old high school senior who sees light at the end of the tunnel.
He tells the raw truth about homelessness, and the kids caught in the middle, in a college entrance essay.
"I hadn't the slightest idea where I was going or where my next meal was coming from," robeck says.
The light at the end of the tunnel is a chance at stability in form of college.
The Common Core App Essay comes complete with promts like: "
Reflect on a time when you were challenged...Recount a time you failed."
"In my mind I'm saying, 'how am I gonna explain 8 years in 650 words?'"
He describes homelessness like an out of body experience; a shock to the system. Unnatural. For the last year he and his mom have been at the Carver Houses.
An alcoholic father, a lost job by his mother, a series of shelters, food banks, assistance checks, and a whole lot of humility later he says, "I want to go to American University."
He wants to major in international relations.
"It would literally be a dream come true because when you're somebody used to having nothing, that becomes your standard," he says.
Robeck has a B-plus average in the classroom and a pretty nice looking jump shot on the court.
"Knowing what it's like not to have, I will do everything," Robeck says.