By George P. Hassett

At the Dunkin’ Donuts on Somerville Avenue Maude Jones prepares coffee, breakfast sandwiches and makes change for customers. It is a long way from the violent, war-torn life she knew in Liberia where child soldiers with rifles were a familiar sight and gunfire a common sound.

And it is even further from the life she will know in September when she begins college at Harvard after spending the last two years as a homeless teenager living in a group home.

‚ÄúMaude has an amazing story,‚Äù said Dan McLaughlin, a youth counselor at the Center for Teen Empowerment, who has worked with Jones. ‚ÄúI’m just waiting for someone to make the movie version of her life.‚Äù

Jones remembers the precise day she arrived in the United States from Liberia with her family – March 21, 2005. She started school in her new country as a sophomore at Malden High School and passed the dreaded MCAS exam five days later.

But by her senior year, Jones’ family was on their way back to Africa after her father’s home went into foreclosure. Knowing what life held in store for her in Liberia – an end to her education and few opportunities beyond teenage marriage and motherhood – Jones  decided to stay in America.

With her family on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, Jones moved into ShortStop, a group home for homeless teenagers on Broadway. ‚ÄúNobody wants to live in a shelter,‚Äù she said. ‚ÄúBut I was safe, I had my own room and I was so busy with work and school I wasn’t there much.‚Äù

Every morning she would wake up at 6 a.m. to get to school at Malden High by 7:45. When she left school at 2:15 p.m. she got on an Orange Line train to make it to her job at Dunkin’ Donuts in downtown Boston by 3. She worked a seven hour shift then returned to ShortStop to study and do homework.

‚ÄúI didn’t stay back in America to play,‚Äù she said of her grueling schedule. ‚ÄúMy whole life growing up in Liberia was violence. I saw people shot, killed, raped in the streets. I would do anything to escape that, going to work and to school all day was easy compared to living that life.‚Äù

The hard work paid off and Jones graduated second in her class. When it came time to apply to college, Jones said she limited her options to schools she could commute to by train.

‚ÄúIn Liberia there is only college. I didn’t know in this country some were considered bigger or better than others,‚Äù she said.

With a stop on the Red Line, Harvard was among the schools she applied to. But when she was accepted, staff members at ShortStop say she was unfazed.

“She was really passé about it,” said ShortStop Assistant Director Michelle McWilliams. “We were in shock when she told us, our jaws just dropped. We tried to explain to her what a big deal Harvard was but she just shrugged it off.”

Jones said she has been surprised by the interest her acceptance has received. When Renee Morgan, a ShortStop staff member brought her to a hair salon and announced the accomplishment, Jones was embarrassed, but grateful, for the attention.

‚ÄúShe was like a big sister,‚Äù Jones said. ‚ÄúShe bragged about me everywhere we went.‚Äù 

With a plan to major in broadcast journalism, Jones said her enrollment at Harvard in the fall is just one more step in her journey from Liberia. ‚ÄúLife just moves on for me. [Getting into Harvard] doesn’t make me any better than my friends who are going to Salem State. I just keep it cool.‚Äù