In the four years that Marquis was in the foster-care system in South Los Angeles, he lived in more than twelve homes and went to over fifteen schools.
“I felt like a number,” he said. “The next kid to come in, everything was just temporary. Nothing felt like home.”
When he was finally returned to his grandmother’s care at twelve, he was pushed through school, with nobody seeming to care whether he understood the material. In a twist of fate, Marquis ended up graduating from California State University, Northridge in 2014. His story describes how he made the turn from a kid falling through the cracks with “not a stellar GPA, probably 1.9,” to a young man with a college degree.
“I just remember telling myself that this is something that I can do, I have the support, I’ve made it this far…so I just kind of made a promise to myself to keep going,” Marquis said.
This video was produced by The Storyboard Project, an online documentary web-series created by Mira Zimet and Eric Weintraub.
