Formerly Homeless Teen Introduces President Barack Obama

He went from sleeping on park benches to introducing the President of the United States.

And it’s an extraordinary achievement that Des Moines, Iowa teen Russhaun Johnson describes as inspirational after welcoming President Barack Obama to North High School.

“It was very dream-fulfilling,” an excited Johnson tells NBC 13 on what it was like addressing an auditorium of 1,400 students and members of the community. “I was inspired by him and he was being inspired by me.”

Johnson has triumphed over adversity. Now he’s a high school senior body president who feted another president—our Commander-in-Chief.

But not long ago things were very different for Johnson. His mother spent four and a half years incarcerated on drug charges and was released 15 months ago, and his father abandoned him.

Despite his circumstances, he had a vision—and fortitude. “As I got older, I started to realize bad things will always happen,” he explains, “But it’s what you do after those bad things that really matter.”

Click here to watch the video.