$100,000 in Scholarships Awarded to 10 Bright Students Through GoFundMe Program

$100,000 in Scholarships Awarded to 10 Bright Students Through GoFundMe Program Image via Pexels In a world where college tuition is at some of its highest rates ever and more college students are finding it increasingly difficult to pay off their student loans, a bit of good news in the field can be encouraging. On October 20, 2016, GoFundMe, the largest social fundraising platform in the world, announced that it was giving away $100,00 in educational scholarships to 10 promising young men and women. Each student received $10,000 to put toward their college expenses, according to a recent press release. Last month, GoFundMe shared details about the first scholarship program and revealed how parents, teachers, and students have turned to the crowd funding site to help realize their college dreams. All in all, it has been reported that over $100 million has been raised for college tuition and related educational expenses on the site. Qualifying for the scholarship was simple. Each student created a campaign page on the site to share their stories with potential contributors. Some of those stories included an undercurrent of challenges involving loss, grief, abandonment, sickness, and being the first in their family to go to college. Using the hashtag #GFMScholarship, each student shared what winning the scholarship would mean to them and how it would help them achieve their goals. In only a week’s time, over $200,000 had been raised to go towards college expenses. Image via Odyssey Rob Solomon, the CEO of GoFundMe, said in the release, “We’re proud and excited to help these remarkable, determined students achieve their educational dreams. All of us here have been touched by the stories shared by the scholarship winners, and we can’t wait to see how they’ll continue to give back to their communities.” The 10 GoFundMe scholarship winners come from a variety of backgrounds. From Aubrianna, who lost her father to cancer and became homeless with her mother to Sandy, who was abandoned by her mother at age six. From Mayia, who was diagnosed with OCD and Tourette’s as a young child to Alan, who turned away from gang life to be a bright student. Each of these students have one thing in common: receiving the best college education possible. This GoFundMe scholarship helps them get one step closer to reaching their dreams. Here are the winners of the 2016 GoFundMe Scholarship program: Born in the Philippines, Bezaleel (Bez) Balan, grew up in Guam. Her family moved to San Francisco and worked many odd jobs to help her pay for her undergraduate studies. She is now in her final year of graduate school at the UCLA School of the Arts and Architecture. Along with working multiple jobs, she has designed an elementary school in Sudan and orphanages in Haiti. Amir Fluellen’s father has been incarcerated for a long time. Raised primarily by his mother who recovered from cancer, he will start his college experience at Salisbury University. The financial burden that his mother’s illness placed on the family limited their ability to help him pay for college and thus he turned to GoFundMe to reach his goal. As a kid, Alan Gonez loved school but after getting involved with a gang and grieving the loss of his friends to gang violence, he chose to turn his life around. He raised his GPA from 1.8 to 3.8 during high school and then obtained a 4.0 and made the Dean’s List at Cerritos Community College. He is currently attending UCLA and giving back to his community. Moving from Mexico to America at the age of 6 only to be abandoned by her mother, Sandy Gonzalez knows too well the fight for immigrants to become permanent citizens. Her grandmother worked hard to become her legal guardian. Sandy is the first person in her family to attend college. In three years she will be able to apply for U.S. citizenship and plans to obtain a PhD in Psychology. As a single mother, Emettra Nelson is fighting to complete her degree in agriculture, food and natural resources at Michigan State. With only 19 credit hours to go, her financial aid decreased and she turned to GoFundMe to help her reach her goal. After her father died of bone cancer while she was in the second grade, Aubriana Mency and her mother were left homeless. Without the stability of home, Mency promised her parents she would work hard in school. She received a scholarship from Hampshire that will pay her first full year. Pauline Muturi entered the U.S. from East Africa. She is currently studying at Florida State University. While she works two jobs and works hard to maintain her good GPA, she worries whether she will be able to complete her studies as she is not eligible for federal student aid. Diagnosed with Tourette’s and OCD in the 3rd grade, Mayia Vranas fought through her disability to maintain straight As. She is now studying physics at UC Berkeley. While she cannot maintain a job and go to school, she will need to take an extra semester of courses and she plans to receive her PhD in the same field. Excited to attend Virginia Tech this fall, honor student Alyssa Wray always placed a high importance on her education. But when her sister contracted a flesh-eating bacterial infection, her family’s focus turned to helping her sister recovery. With medical bills mounting, Alyssa turned to GoFundMe to help her with the college’s first year tuition. A childhood emergency in which he was airlifted from his remote Navajo reservation helped Thayne Yazzie realize he wanted to dedicate his life to giving the Navajo Nation access to healthcare. He graduated from Western Washington University, moved back home to teach, and is now attending Eastern New Mexico University working towards his flight certification.