Debbie Egan-Chin/New York Daily News Vonn Grant, 17, with mother Selina, says he can’t picture himself anywhere but West Point. After Hurricane Sandy, Coney Island teen Vonn Grant saw his home destroyed and neighborhood ravaged, and spent months living out of a hotel room as he tried to put his life back together.
Now the senior at Brooklyn’s New Utrecht High School is headed for West Point.
Grant, 17, was accepted to the Military Academy Preparatory School, which prepares cadets to enter the prestigious upstate military academy the following year.
He said his storm ordeal, which left him displaced from his home for six months, only strengthened his determination to pursue his goals.
Joe Marino for New York Daily NewsGrant and his mom fled their Bayview Ave. home in Coney Island and returned to devastation.
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This Seagate home in Coney Island was one of many wrecked by Hurricane Sandy in 2012.
“A year ago, I didn’t know what was going on. I was scared and I was really worried. But I knew I had to strive to do something better,” Grant said.
Grant and his mom fled their Bayview Ave. home in the Sam Burt Houses before Sandy and returned the next day to a scene of devastation and flooded streets.
“We tried to open the door. We had to bust it open. … Ocean water started pouring out of the house,” he said. “Everything was destroyed.”
Ocean water started pouring out of the house. Everything was destroyed.
With their home unlivable, Grant briefly stayed with a friend and then lived out of a FEMA hotel room in downtown Brooklyn with his mom, commuting an hour to his Bensonhurst high school, where he played on the football team.
He said he threw himself into his school work as his family worked to get their home rebuilt as a way to stay grounded, not even telling his teachers about his experience as a storm victim, and earned a 92 average for his junior year.
“I felt devastated,” he said. “I knew there were two ways I could go — either downhill or uphill. So I chose uphill.”
Debbie Egan-Chin/New York Daily News Grant says the ordeal of Hurricane Sandy only strengthened his resolve to pursue his academic goals. Their townhouse stripped and rebuilt, Grant said he was relieved to be able to move back home in time for his senior year — and ended up getting acceptance letters to all eight colleges he applied to.
He quickly chose West Point’s prep school because of his desire to serve in the Army and work in military intelligence — and play on the school’s football team.
“I couldn’t picture myself anywhere else,” he said.
Debbie Egan-Chin/New York Daily News Grant display a WWII photo of his grandfather, Wilbur Grant, who was a sergeant in the Army. City Councilman Mark Treyger (D-Coney Island) penned a recommendation for Grant and helped him get nominations to the military academy from federal pols.
“Here’s a kid who had really almost every excuse to say it’s too hard, had every excuse to throw in the towel because his life had been turned upside down because of the storm, but he never made excuses,” Treyger said.
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