Chelesa Fearce had a secret that her classmates didn’t know. A secret that could not defeat her. A secret that she was ready to reveal on graduation day: she was homeless.

Today, six years later, her story of perseverance continues, from a teenager studying by the stove light at motels to Spelman College graduate and medical researcher now starting Yale Medical School.

“Homelessness taught me how to work hard, always persevere and never let anything get in my way,” Fearce said recently.

The 23-year-old girl made national news in 2013 with her story of success over a difficult situation. Her academic success landed her a full scholarship to Spelman, where she graduated in 2017 with a Bachelor of Science in biochemistry. She has worked full-time for the past two years at the National Institutes for Health in Bethesda, Maryland, doing research on drugs. And this month, Fearce starts Yale Medical School with a full scholarship to cover living expenses. She expects to be at the Ivy League school for eight years and to graduate with her doctorate and a medical degree. Her longtime goal is a career in psychiatry (精神病学).

Fearce’s story is kept alive on the home front by the Clayton County school system. In her name, the system annually awards scholarships to local homeless students with good academic records. The scholarships of $250 to $1,000 come from donations collected in the whole country, which ranked first in the state in 2016—2017 in student homelessness with about 2,700 students.

Hearing about her helps “the students know what is possible,” said Jacqueline Evans, which deals with the problem of student homelessness. “Sometimes, you have to see somebody else to know it can happen to you.”

Germany—87-year-old Hubert Frilling died quietly in his sleep a year ago. The village beer hall he owned and also ran for more than 60 years，"Schanko"，set to die with him. Schanko—Mr. Frilling’s nickname—had served Handorf-Langenberg, a village of 1,500 in northwest Germany, as a community center. It is an extended living room for countless birthdays, gatherings with family or friends.

"We risked losing not just our last bar，but a cultural asset (资产)as well, "said Mr. Escherhaus. Many businesses are interested in Schanko’s space. The German beer hall will be increasingly endangered, a victim of an aging population society which has abandoned villages. Urbanization (城市 化)has drawn young people away. More people are turning to social media to exchange stories and to share news.

At a time when Germans have restarted a debate about their identity after taking in more than one million refugees (难民)since 2015，most from Middle East and Africa，the fate of traditional beer halls has even become a political issue. To try to save them, the government passed a $ 35 million package of financial support aimed at helping owners of beer halls and restaurants in rural areas survive.

Such funds won’t help owners in Lower Saxony，where Schanko sits. This is an area where the sandy soil means neither wheat nor trees grow very high. Nevertheless residents’ roots—in addition to their pride —run deep. Mr. Escherhaus and his friends turned to another German tradition, the cooperative.

By September they had sold more than 1,000 shares to more than half the residents. The oldest shareholder was in his 80s；the youngest, Anna, was just born. Katrin Robbern, 49, and her daughter Katharina each bought shares. The mother sought to preserve the place where she sang from the children’s choir. She later met the man she would marry at this place. Her daughter wanted to secure a place for such memories to be made. "This is important for our future, " said the 24-year-old.

John was waiting for the girl whose heart he knew, but whose face he didn’t, the girl with the rose. Thirteen months ago, in a Florida library he took a book off the shelf and found himself attracted by the notes in the margin (页边). The soft handwriting reflected a thoughtful soul and insightful mind.

In front of the book, he discovered the previous owner’s name, Miss Hollis Maynell. With time and effort, he located her address. He wrote her a letter introducing himself and inviting her to correspond. During the next year and one month, the two grew to know each other through the mail. A romance was developing. John requested a photograph, but she refused. She felt that if he really cared, it wouldn’t matter what she looked like. Later they scheduled their first meeting - 7:00 p.m. at Grand Central Station in New York.

“You’ll recognize me,” she wrote, “by the red rose I’ll be wearing on my coat.” So at 7:00 he was in the station looking for the girl with the red rose.

A young woman in a green suit was coming towards him, her figure long and slim and her eyes were blue as flowers. Almost uncontrollably he made one step closer to her, and just at this moment he saw Hollis Maynell - a woman well past 40. The girl was walking quickly away. He felt as though he was at a loss, so eager was his desire to follow her, and yet so deep was his longing for the woman whose spirit had truly accompanied him and upheld his own.

He did not hesitate. He squared his shoulders and said, “I’m John, and you must be Miss Maynell. I am so glad you could meet me; may I take you to dinner?”

The woman smiled, “I don’t know what this is about, son,” she answered, “but the young lady in the green suit begged me to wear this rose on my coat. And she said if you were to ask me out to dinner, I should tell you she is waiting for you in the restaurant across the street. She said it was some kind of test!”

It’s not difficult to admire wisdom. The true nature of a heart is seen in its response to the unattractive.