Bronx native honored for perseverance at Saint Dominic's event.

Former Saint Dominic's Group Home resident Nathan Lebron will be awarded a master's degree from Harvard University this spring, an accomplishment achieved against difficult odds.

Lebron was recognized at the 25th Annual Business & Labor Awards Dinner hosted by the Friends of Saint Dominic's for his perseverance in overcoming a youth filled with obstacles: a life threatening tumor, loss of one parent, hospitalization of another and living with a family who neglected his needs.

Until Lebron moved into the Gunther Avenue Group Home supervised by Saint Dominic's at the age of 15, his life was unstable.

"It was a transformational experience for me. I hadn't been a regular teenager in years," he said. "When I first lived in the group home, it was my first attempt at being a normal teenager."

When he was an adolescent in the Bronx, Lebron's mother was hospitalized for a lengthy illness. He and his three younger half siblings wound up living with a family in the South Bronx and Lebron began hanging out with a gang. When he was 13 years old, Lebron underwent surgery for removal of a tumor in his spinal cord. His stepfather left his three half siblings at the hospital and they wound up entering Saint Dominic's foster care program.

"For most of two years, I stayed in the hospital because I was basically homeless," said Lebron. When he was discharged to Saint Dominic's Gunther Avenue group home, his life began changing. He says the encouragement of the caseworkers was invaluable.

"If I wanted to accomplish something, there were always words of encouragement."

Lebron did well in school, worked at two part-time jobs and was accepted to the State University of New York.

After earning his bachelor's degree with a double major in computer science and Spanish literature, he received his master's degree from Harvard University in information technology this spring. Lebron currently works as the information systems director of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown.

The Friends of Saint Dominic's presented awards to Unity International Group chief executive officer Peter J. Striano and Jones Lang LaSalle Northeast regional director Raymond Quartararo for their longstanding support of Saint Dominic's Home.

Striano received the Francis J. P. McHale Memorial Award and Quartararo accepted the Victory Award.

The dinner raised $1.1 million, which represents about 2.7% of the annual budget of Saint Dominic's Home. The Home serves more than 2,000 people a year in more than 40 programs, including foster boarding homes, adoption, adolescent residential programs, special needs education and community-based services.