Jamil Miller is not yet 22, and yet he’s already experienced a lifetime of adversity. He grew up in Camden without his father, and when he was in high school his mother was incarcerated. With extraordinary support from his teachers, Jamil graduated from Brimm Medical Arts High School and enrolled in Rowan University.
College wasn’t exactly Easy Street — Jamil was unexpectedly left without a place to live during his freshman year, and he had to work throughout college to make ends meet.
Through all of that, Jamil is spending his summer interning at Cooper University Hospital, and next school year Jamil will graduate from Rowan and continue his education at medical school, from where he plans to become a cardiologist.
I believe Jamil’s story is Camden’s story — one of deep challenges, to be sure, but also one of support, and one of hard-earned success.
I first met Jamil in January at an event to announce our latest graduation rate, which is now 64 percent, up from 49 percent when I was appointed three years ago. And that’s also part of Camden’s story — progress and a long way still to go.
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