Q'ajaniyah Miller looks across the floor as she and other Tri Town Extreme cheerleaders stretch before the squad's final practice of the year on Wednesday, April 2, 2014, at William Penn Senior High School in York, Pa. Q'ajaniyah, 18 of York, has twice been the victim of gun violence: Her father, Ajani Miller, died from a gunshot to the pelvis in 1999, and Q'ajaniyah was caught in crossfire outside her house last year. Her experiences have pushed her to study criminal justice this fall at Penn State.

This picture of Ajani Miller, left, his daughter Q'ajaniyah, right, and Q'ajaniyah's cousin was taken two weeks before Ajani Miller's Dec. 27, 1999, death. The picture hangs on the refrigerator in Q'ajaniyah Miller's West Princess Street home, and is the only one she has of her father.

Q'ajaniyah Miller, 18, holds her brother Julius "Juju" Little, Jr., 2, as her other brother, Michael Autry III, 6, tries to reach for sweets above the refrigerator by standing on top of the deep freezer before going to school on Wednesday, April 2, 2014. Q'ajaniyah and her mother, Ronielle Kirkland, split up the morning chores to make sure the younger ones get to school on time.

Q'ajaniyah Miller, 18, helps her brother Julius "Juju" Little, Jr., 2, brush his teeth before school in her family's West Princess Street home on Wednesday, April 30, 2013. Q'ajaniyah, who is 12 years older than her oldest sibling, helps her mother, Ronielle Kirkland, care for her younger brothers and baby sister.

Q'ajaniyah Miller, 18, and her mother Ronielle Kirkland stand on their West Princess Street porch and brace themselves before running in the rain to the minivan to take Q'ajaniyah to school on Wednesday, April 30, 2014. When she hesitated about whether to leave her mother and family for college, Q'ajaniyah said her mother told her: "Get out of here, I’ll be fine."

Q'ajaniyah Miller, 18, participates in her criminology class at William Penn on Tuesday, May 13, 2014. Teacher Stuart Krise said of Q'ajaniyah, “She’s rare in my 32 years of teaching because she’s so resilient."

Q'ajaniyah Miller, 18, waits backstage before performing "Believe" from the movie "Polar Express" in William Penn's piano lab recital on Thursday, May 15, 2014. It was Miller's first time playing the piano in a recital. The cheerleader also served as class vice president and was voted homecoming queen as a senior.

Q'ajaniyah Miller and other Tri Town Extreme cheerleaders run through a routine in the squad's final practice of the year on Wednesday, April 2, 2014, at William Penn. Q'ajaniyah, who has been a cheerleader since the eighth grade, sees the sport as a way to express herself, and plans to try out for Penn State's squad next spring.

Ajani Miller's gold cross necklace hangs from a lamp in his daughter Q'ajaniyah's West Princess Street bedroom. Q'ajaniyah Miller's aunt gave her the necklace several years after Ajani's 1999 death, and she has worn it only twice. "Just walking out and going to school, I look at it every day," Q’ajaniyah said, "so it just motivates me."

Q'ajaniyah Miller, 18, right, holds her 6-month-old sister Juliana Little as she watches her brother Michael Autry III, 6, play rock-paper-scissors with their mother, Ronielle Kirkland, in their West Princess Street living room on Monday, June 2, 2014. School had all but ended, leaving Q'ajaniyah with little to do on the afternoons when she didn't have work.

Q'ajaniyah Miller, 18, reacts after the announcer at William Penn's commencement ceremony pronounced her full name correctly on Friday, June 6, 2014. She was named after her father, Ajani Miller, who was killed when she was 3.

Q'ajaniyah Miller, 18, greets her mother Ronielle Kirkland after graduating from William Penn on Friday, June 6, 2014. A year earlier, Kirkland feared her daughter had been killed when she was struck in the crossfire of a shootout in front of their West Princess Street home.

Q'ajaniyah Miller, 18, stands with her grandmother Tina Maxfield while waiting for her mother, Ronielle Kirkland, to drive the minivan over after graduating from William Penn on Friday, June 6, 2014. Q'ajaniyah, who is enrolled to attend Penn State in State College in the fall, plans to spend this summer working on her tumbling and staying in shape for cheerleader tryouts.