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Antavius Cain never planned to be a biologist. He was going to be a football star, but losing his college football scholarship his last year of high school forced him to find something else to do with his life. That was a daunting challenge at the time, because his grades were lacking, to say the least. That’s when he turned his sights to the new college half an hour north of his home in Snellville, Georgia.

“I hoped that Georgia Gwinnett College would accept me, since they were a newer school and seemed like a school that would give everyone a chance,” said Cain.

His hunch proved correct, and he started at GGC in 2016. He decided to try general biology.

“I’ve thought biology was kind of cool ever since I was a kid,” said Cain. “My professors guided me to change my major to cell biology.”

Being a college student kept him off the streets, but just barely. He had to live out of his car for his freshmen and sophomore years. When his car broke down, he slept on friends’ couches. His predicament did not escape his professors, who couldn’t stand watching their bright young student struggle.

One day, Dr. Elisabeth Javazon, associate professor of biology and biochemistry, asked him point-blank if he was homeless.

“When I told her yes, she and Dr. Lee Kurtz made it their mission to help me get housing and support,” recalled Cain.

A former GGC physics professor joined the mission and wound up asking Cain to come live with him. Having a real home to anchor his life made all the difference.

“Once I was in a more stable environment, I was able to fully realize how cool science is,” he says.

He still keeps in touch with all three professors who gave so much to him.

“They helped me get to where I am today,” said Cain. “They are basically family.”

Cain graduated from GGC in 2020 and is currently a graduate student and Ph.D. candidate in biochemistry and molecular biology at the University of Georgia. His goal is to become a medical science liaison.

Cain wants prospective students to know that if he can get through one of the toughest programs at GGC, they can too.

“During the first orientation, the president said it’s not going to school that's important, it's finishing school. That's what helped me stick to it,” said Cain “I didn't have good grades at the start, but they started to trend up after I got the help I needed. I’m proof that just because you come from a tough background and don’t have the best GPA, it doesn't mean you can’t do great things.”