From a Brazilian favela to Yale on a full scholarship

Thalles De Souza got into Yale University ten years after arriving in the United States from Brazil, and he did it partly on money saved for him by his bosses at a Wendy's on Cape Cod. When De Souza said he wanted to quit and take a construction job to fund college, Usama El-Sehrawey and Terry Smily convinced him to stay and started setting aside money for tuition. "We've always helped our employees when they needed help," Smily told NewsNation. "It was a great opportunity to provide an opportunity to this young man who was going places." De Souza spent three years at community college on those savings before Yale accepted him on a full scholarship worth over 1 million reais. He wants to go to law school and become a public servant in Massachusetts. "The favela was born to win, too," he wrote on Instagram. "Where you come from does not determine where you can go."