The Grind, presented by the Bank of Clarendon: Crestwood's Golston lost house to fire, but not spirit; wins Thompson Award for Courage at The Bobbys

Crestwood's Summer Golston went into the 2023-24 school year filled with excitement. She was gearing up for her senior year, roaming the sidelines as a cheerleader for CHS. She supported the football team through an incredible fall and was in the midst of a great basketball season when everything went up in smoke.

On Dec. 12, Summer hopped on the bus to go to the career center at school, but she didn't stay long. Her older sister, Jordyn, called with the most shocking news imaginable.

"She told me that the house is on fire," Summer said. "I'm thinking maybe it's just a little fire, and then I got a message from my cousin, and she told me that the house was on fire, as well. So I left the career center and I came here, and it's just like the whole thing was on fire. Everything was gone. Like the whole back part of my room was just black."

While the loss was horrible, Summer has never been happier that she was able to wrestle herself out of bed in the morning.

"I'm thankful that I woke up and went to school because, that morning, I did not want to go to school," she said. "I'm glad I went because I would have been here. I'm glad that nobody else was here when it happened."

Suddenly, life turned upside down for the Golston family. Luckily, no one was at home during the fire, but there was plenty of confusion. Summer and Jordyn tried to get in touch with their mother, Tina Wallace, but she wasn't picking up her phone. Tina was covering for a co-worker, so she was completely unaware of the situation until her daughters finally got her on the phone.

"They were kinda stressed out because they didn't know where I was. When they found me an hour or two later, I was shocked myself," Tina said. "I didn't know what we were going to do, but I can say God is my help."

Life wasn't easy in the aftermath. Tina has Cerebral Palsy and Multiple Sclerosis, but she wasn't concerned for herself, saying that God wouldn't give her challenges she can't handle. Tina had a simple message for her daughters as they tried to move forward as a family.

"All I'd say is pray to God that she's still here," Tina said. "Why our house is gone, we don't know. We still don't know, but we thank God that we're here."

In an instant, 17 years of memories were torched.

"When we left here that day, we left with nothing," Summer said. "We could have walked through the house a little bit, but it wasn't really safe to walk through it."

Of all the things left inside that house, Summer misses the photos the most, though it was also difficult to cope with the fact that nearly everything she owned was burnt to a crisp inside her home.

"My mom got this house when I was a baby, so we've been here for 17 years," Summer said. "When I think back on the memories, I get kind of emotional."

It was the loss of a community hub. Summer said she always served as host for sleepovers with her friends. In the intervening months, she drove past the wreckage of her home on the way to school.

"I didn't like seeing it," she said.

In the immediate aftermath, family and friends came to the rescue. Family members opened their closets, friends took her on shopping sprees. The family moved in with Summer's grandmother right away, but Summer eventually went to live with one of her best friends, Laniya Rouse and her boyfriend, Azarian Yates. While Summer lost a community center, she felt the support of her tight-knit group, which also included close friends N'Tallyah Bell and Taliya Harris.

"The day it happened, my best friend's mom took me to the store to get some things, and my cousins, my boyfriend's mom, my boyfriend took me to the store to get some things," Summer said. "Everybody was there for me; it was just very much love and support. I needed that."

Just two days after her house burned down, Summer was back in school and rejoined the cheer squad. While it would've been excusable to take more time, she sought the feeling of normalcy that came with returning to The Castle. More importantly, she didn't want anything to get in the way of her diploma.

"I just felt like that was just temporary, so I just had to make sure I finished my senior year out strong, make sure I still graduated, make sure I still made myself happy throughout the process, not making myself go into a deep depression or anything over the situation," Summer said. "As time went on, it just was like, 'OK, just keep going, keep pushing. It's gonna be OK.'"

When Summer was back in the stands, stomping and clapping at basketball games, she could feel some stress washing away.

"It made me not think about it as much," she said. "The basketball games were fun. It just took my mind off a lot of things."

On May 24, Summer showed the world that not even a life-changing fire would keep her down. She walked across the stage and accepted her diploma. It was a cathartic feeling after months of confusion.

"I owed it to myself and to my mom to graduate, so I made sure that was a priority," she said. "I had to walk across the stage."

This fall will come with a new, more exciting, batch of changes for Summer. The Golstons will move back into their rebuilt home on July 31. Summer will then start college at Central Carolina, where she will begin the process of becoming a medical assistant.

"I can't wait to move back in," she said. "I will start school, and then everything will be falling back in place, I guess."

Through everything, Summer learned just how important perseverance can be. Her ability to smile in the face of adversity led to her winning the Thompson Award for Courage at The Bobbys on June 20. She hopes others can follow in her footsteps when times get tough.

"Don't give up; don't put your head down," she said. "Just keep pushing through. It'll be OK. It'll work out."