Abandoned by his father, recent high school graduate Tony Robertson says there were a few key people who helped him find the right path. 

One of them is Lafayette Attorney Glenn Armentor and his “Pay It Forward Scholarship Program.”

Tony’s story of achieving in the face of adversity was a lonely, and at times painful journey.

“I was alone most of the time, I kept everything in”, Tony says.

He grew up without his father who left the family when Tony was born.

His mom struggled to raise him alone. That’s before everything changed on August 12, 2016.

A slow-moving low-pressure system brought a heavy rain event ushering in historic flood waters that left many people homeless including Tony and his mom.

Tony says, “I was going from friends houses to friends houses for a while.”

He was considered homeless by the school district.

From being fatherless to homeless Tony felt alone and at times angry.

But he says, thanks to mentors who cared, his life changed direction.

“I did have people who showed up in my life, like Officer Pryor at Milton Elementary. He taught me a lot about how to control myself.”

He says the officer and others in his life kept him…

“In line and taught me the way to start acting and not acting out,” he says.

A life lesson that has this recent high school grad on the right path.

Tony says, “The more I work and really grind to get the things I want the more I accomplish.”

And he does it all with a great sense of humor. As we closed our interview, he laughed for the camera, threw up his hands and made a sign for his friends, saying, “I just want that one shot of me doing this, (laughs) that’s it, y’all got it, alright!” 

Tony graduated from high school in May.

He plans to major in microbiology and he’s already completed two college courses.