Liz Murray has been called a “bootstrapper” – people who pull themselves out of a desperate situation. 

The term seems to fit. She grew up in a home with drug-addicted parents and became homeless as a teenager and stopped going to school. A life-changing experience drew her back to school and eventually led her to Harvard.

But “bootstrapper” is not a term she readily accepts.

“I actually have a problem with that,” she said during a pair of speeches Tuesday and Wednesday at Midland University. “I think that when we speak about people that way, we discount the need for education and teachers, mentors, community. No one gets where they’re going alone.”

Murray, who has been featured on the made-for-TV movie “Homeless to Harvard: The Liz Murray Story,” was the keynote speaker for the second annual All Minds Matter Conference. Hosted at Midland, the conference is organized by Education Service Unit No. 2 in Fremont and funded through a grant from the Fremont Area Community Foundation.

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