Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Los Angeles Times

    Once homeless, UCLA's Zaylon Thomas makes his mark on the track

    LOS ANGELES — The same question haunted Zaylon Thomas when he was a teenager trying to get to high school as a senior preparing for graduation and a promising athlete looking for his next option. What's next? The UCLA sprinter and high jumper is still asking himself that when he has seemingly everything he could want. The sophomore attends his dream school. It's surreal to sit in the stands at ...
    by Thuc Nhi Nguyen, Los Angeles Times Apr 17, 2022 5 minutes
    UCLA sophomore track and field athlete Zaylon Thomas, right, greets friend Cam Johnson, left, competing in the 200 m race at the Rafer Johnson/Jackie Joyner-Kersee Invitational at Drake Stadium on March 26, 2022, in Los Angeles.

    LOS ANGELES — The same question haunted Zaylon Thomas when he was a teenager trying to get to high school as a senior preparing for graduation and a promising athlete looking for his next option.

    What's next?

    The UCLA sprinter and high jumper is still asking himself that when he has seemingly everything he could want. The sophomore attends his dream school. It's surreal to sit in the stands at Drake Stadium and marvel at a postcard-worthy view of UCLA's campus. Yet he remains consumed about envisioning his next steps.

    Focusing on what's next will keep him away from what once was.

    Thomas battled homelessness starting in eighth grade, crisscrossing the country with mother Wanda McKinney. Living in three states in five years, Thomas doubted whether he would graduate from high school. Now he's dreaming of leaving his mark

    You’re reading a preview, subscribe to read more.

    More from Los Angeles Times

    Los Angeles Times4 min read
    California Exodus Left A Gaping Population Hole. Can The Golden State Bounce Back?
    Despite a recent uptick in population, California still has a long way to go to make up for the exodus that began in 2019 and accelerated during the pandemic. Though the state population grew 0.17% in 2023 — the first year of growth since the COVID-1
    Los Angeles Times4 min readAmerican Government
    Jackie Calmes: Whatever Big Oil Wants, Big Oil Gets. As Long As It Bankrolls Trump
    What better sign could there be that we’re drowning in political outrage, that we’re inured to it, than this: A national newspaper scooped this month that Donald Trump gathered about two dozen oil industry executives for a chopped steak dinner at his
    Los Angeles Times8 min read
    Sammy Roth: Meet The Comedians Telling Hilarious Jokes About Climate Change
    LOS ANGELES — Lots of people enjoy laughing at billionaires — but it wasn’t just any billionaires who were the targets of Esteban Gast’s recent comedic jabs at the Crow, an intimate comedy club just off Metro’s E Line tracks in Santa Monica. After ad

    Related Books & Audiobooks