Giselle Harris’ days would start around 4:30 a.m. and end at 7 p.m.

On the surface, the Longwood senior is a two-sport superstar for the Lions girls basketball and flag football teams.

Away from sports, Harris has dealt with adversity that would feel foreign to the typical teenager.

Harris and her family, originally from Coram,  were forced to relocate their housing to family and friends throughout most of her time in junior high and high school.  The family has since found a home in Selden, but along the way there were many bumps in the road.

“There's been a lot in our life that we've been through, especially her as a young kid to achieve and to push herself to keep going,” said Danielle Harris, Giselle’s mother. “I'm very proud of the young woman that she’s turning out to be.”

Later this month, Giselle will graduate from Longwood, which offers a transitional housing resource that allows students who are temporarily living outside the district — like Giselle — to still attend the school.

Then it’s off to Farmingdale State to start her college basketball career.

Giselle, 18, has a 21-year-old sister, Deja — who runs track at the University of New Haven and shares the same May 26 birthday as her — and an 8-year-old younger brother, Darius.

On April 4, 2024, Danielle, Giselle, Deja, Darius and Laura Nicolette, Danielle’s grandmother and Giselle’s great-grandmother, moved into a house in Selden.

But around the time of the COVID-19 pandemic, they bounced around to family and friends as Danielle was going through a separation.

In October 2019, they moved in with Giselle’s godmother, Stephanie Prydatko, in the basement of her Coram home.

In June 2020, they moved in with Nicolette in Kings Park, who Danielle said has “always been there with love and support.” They would reside in her basement for the next four years.

Students eventually returned to school amid the pandemic, but Nicolette’s house was about 45 minutes from Longwood. No matter the logistical roadblock,  Danielle was unyielding in making sure Giselle and Deja, a 2022 Longwood graduate, would continue school as they knew it in Middle Island.

The McKinney–Vento Homeless Assistance Act of 1987, a federal law, ensures that students in transitional housing have the right to attend the school they were previously enrolled in. The Longwood Central School District defines different situations of students in transitional housing, which includes “living in the home of a relative or friend due to lack of housing.”

“I was driving her back and forth every morning,” Danielle said. “Like 4 o'clock in the morning, I would get up and get her ready to take her to school. It's a 45-minute drive both ways, so it was a lot, but I was dedicated.

“I didn't want to take her out of school or where she was at because I know how that is as a child switching schools, especially in high school, it's a lot. You have your friends. You're comfortable.”

Giselle had practices after school and on the weekends. If there was a late game, she would stay at school the whole day. If Danielle needed to drop her off at a weekend practice, she would wait in the parking lot for three hours until it finished.

“It was a lot, because I knew it also took a lot on her to wake me up because I'm tough to get up,” Giselle said. “And then have to drive really early in the morning, knowing that she was tired . . . I just knew it took a lot.”

After five months of Danielle driving back and forth from Kings Park, she learned about Longwood's transitional housing buses, which would provide free transportation for Giselle and Deja — and others located outside the district — to and from the school, including all activities.

Giselle would be the first person on and the last person off the bus each day.

Were there ever any moments where she wanted to give up?

“Honestly, yeah, there was,” she said. “Because it's tiring having to wake up early, go to school, practice, and then wait after school a little bit longer because by the time – like, I couldn't just schedule a bus for a random time. It had to be a little bit later on. So I'd wait until 5:30 for the bus to leave, and then just everything else in general and then having to go home. And then I still had to shower, eat and do everything else. It was very tiring.

“It was taking a toll on my mental, too. Not wanting to go to school or wanting to stay home because it was just so much.”

Said Danielle: “She was still dedicated and still did it. Never gave up.”

Giselle started playing soccer when she was 3, and  early on it was clear she would be an outstanding athlete.

Growing up, Giselle always played basketball outside with the boys in her neighborhood.  In middle school, it was the sport that ultimately stuck.

Giselle was unstoppable for Longwood Middle School as a seventh grader, and she was called up to varsity in eighth grade.

“I’ve never really been without basketball in my life to not know what it feels like not to have it,” she said. “But the impact it made, knowing that just from eighth grade being on varsity level and everything, it just showed that I wanted to be dedicated. I wanted to put the work in.”

An all-county selection and three-time Newsday Top 100 honoree, Giselle reached the 1,000-point career milestone in January. She played with Deja on the Longwood team that won the 2022 Suffolk Class AA title.

Giselle was at first hesitant to pick up flag football, questioning if she would fit in. But football was another sport she had grown up playing with the boys in her neighborhood, and – after constant  urging from friends and coaches – she began playing her sophomore year.

She dominated this spring, catching 77 passes for 1,329 yards and 16 touchdowns.

“I think her ability at times inspired her teammates, and inspired them to play and gave them confidence and courage,” Longwood coach Aden Smith said. “So I think, to that extent, she adds to the already tradition of successful athletic programs at Longwood.”

Longwood’s transitional housing buses still bring Giselle to and from school, but it is now a 6:20 a.m. departure with a much-earlier arrival back home.

This is the last year in the Longwood district for the family. Danielle is a 2000 Longwood graduate, and Darius is now in the Middle Country Central School District.

Giselle’s journey has been far from easy, but she knows she has inspired others.

“I know I kept pushing people. They wanted to quit, and I never let them quit,” she said. “I helped other people with a lot of stuff that I would struggle with that I didn't want to see them struggle with either, and I think I pushed through to a lot of people.”

She will be  living in a dorm at Farmingdale State next year, something that Danielle said will help her “grow independence and learn to be a little young lady on her own.”

Giselle has reflected on the past, but she is eager for what the future holds.

“Honestly, I'm a little sad just because everything that I went through and just had to push through, and just now I have to leave all that behind and start a new journey," she said.

“But honestly, I'm excited. I'm just excited to see where to go, honestly.”