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Xavier Jones is given his scholarship to Harris-Stowe Stete University in St. Louis.

A story out of St. Louis shows how some students have to overcome many more barriers than others on their road to success. But in this student's case, people in important positions recognized his perseverance and rewarded him in a way that could make his future less of a struggle.

According to a report from KAKE, 14-year-old Xavier Jones had no ride to his 8th-grade graduation ceremony, so he walked six miles to pick up his diploma.

“I was going to tell an adult, but my grandpa’s car was down. So I was just going to walk there,” he told KAKE.

Jones was graduating from Yeatman Middle School, but the ceremony was held at Harris-Stowe State University, a public historically-Black university in St. Louis.

“I looked up Harris-Stowe University on Google Maps and then I saw the walking distance and then I said I could probably make it,” Xavier told KAKE. “I wanted to walk across the stage.”

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Check out Budweiser's powerful Super Bowl ad celebrating immigrants.

'Go back home!' — a message immigrants have been hearing for a while now.

In 1857, a man named Adolphus Busch arrived in America.

As an immigrant from Germany, he stood out.

Some people didn't like that.

Like many other immigrants in the 1800s, he faced hardships on his journey to find his new home.

But he finally made it to where he was meant to be.

Busch, of course, is the Busch of Anheuser-Busch — the world's largest beer producer. And it's his American story being told in a new Super Bowl ad for Budweiser:

As Slate reported, the ad is a more sensationalized version of Busch's past. Nonetheless, it sends a bold message.

Given today's political climate, the ad's pro-immigrant sentiment has people talking.

The ad — showing Busch overcoming xenophobic attitudes held by early colonists — was released amid talks of President Donald Trump's controversial U.S.-Mexico border wall and just days after Trump signed an executive order banning travel to the U.S. by green card holders and refugees from seven predominantly Muslim countries.

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A stranger raised his voice and threw a middle finger her way. Patience Zalanga froze.

This was not the first time someone had reacted violently to her presence. And it likely wouldn't be the last.

Zalanga is a badass photographer.

A black woman and long-term resident of St. Paul, Minnesota, Zalanga recently moved to the St. Louis metro area. But when she heard about the shooting of Philando Castile, she hopped in a car and went back home.

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As the sun set on their first day, the men of the 25th Infantry Bicycle Corps were cold, tired, and soaking wet. And they still had nearly 1,900 miles to go.

It was summer 1896. The 20 members of the 25th Infantry, an all-black company out of Fort Missoula, Montana, had been volunteered by their white commanding officer, 2nd Lt. James Moss, to study the feasibility of using bicycles in the military, which, unlike horses, required no food, water, or rest.

Moss was allowed to lead his men on a near-2,000-mile journey from Missoula to St. Louis, Missouri. The weather was punishing, the ride grueling, and the water poisonous. The men of the 25th were selected for the experiment, frankly, because as soldiers, they were worth little to the U.S. military.

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