An exceptional 17-year-old girl named Jasmine Mazard-Larry has defied all odds to emerge as the best-graduating student and valedictorian of her school in the United States

Jasmine Mazard-Larry had a tough start in high school as her parent’s house got burned down but despite the challenges they faced as a result of the accident, she focused hard on her education and later graduated with an outstanding 8.07 GPA.

Mazard-Larry enrolled in Advanced Placement classes and participated in dual enrollment and the Cambridge Advanced International Certificate of Education program at Dr. Kiran C. Patel High School. Her participation in various programs helped her boost her GPA.

Speaking about her experience, Mazard-Larry explained that she learned to persevere during the tough times she faced. “I think going through all of this … has led me to want to persevere and want to show little girls or boys my age that they can do it too,” she told GMA.

The Principal of Dr. Kiran C. Patel High School, Marlee Strawn, lauded her effort noting that she had the initiative to go above and beyond. “She had this goal of being top in her class, and ultimately she met it,” Strawn said.

Jasmine made her family proud. Her mother, Nidta Mazard, who was nine-month pregnant with her brother at the time the fire incident made them homeless, praised Jasmine for scaling through the struggles.

“And here Jasmine, in the midst of it all, [started] high school. Her behavior could have changed because of a lot of things that she was already going through,”Nidta told GMA.

“But instead, she used that as a light to help me because I almost died giving birth to my son,” she added.

Jasmine Mazard-Larry also has ADHD and hearing loss during her time in High School and had to defeat the thoughts of her disability impeding some of her goals.

“I use my little brother as my motivation. Sometimes it can be challenging, but I look at him and I want to be a role model for him,” she said.

She encourage young people like her to fight hard against any obstacle that is affecting their progress. “We all have our own story. There’s the good and the bad. But don’t overlook the bad because it makes you who you are. In 20 [or] 10 years from now, you’re going to look back and be like, ‘I did that. I conquered all of these obstacles, and here I am today,” she said.