College Dreamin'

Marissa is a sweet young lady that gives her heart to everything she does.  

From the time she was a toddler we knew she was special. She had such a gift for math, it was amazing.

As she grew older her love for learning continued. She cried when she got her first "B" and has kept her 4.17 GPA throughout high school. 

Marissa has been an active volunteer. She has done everything from feeding the homeless to being a youth co-coordinator for Toys for Tots. She worked with Girl Scouts, participating in Relay for Life, 30-Hour Famine, and much more.

She loves rowing, crew is her passion. Thanks to a wonderful adult crew club, and her school's crew board, she has been blessed with "scholarships" each of her 4 years of high school rowing. She has been accepted to the crew team at college, however her "erg" scores were not high enough to get her a scholarship. (Thankfully there is no cost involved in participating) 

Although she could have her pick of schools, her love of math, and love of crew are what brought her to George Mason. They have the two majors she wants (Computer Science and Forensic Science) and crew. 

Both of her parents work for the school system and between the two they don't make what the median income is for a single person living in our area. They make enough to support a family of 5 without any public assistance, but not enough to save for college. Despite that they "make too much" to really qualify for financial aid.

Marissa is unable to get student loans, due to being so young and not having credit. Her parents are not in the position to be able to co-sign for her.


Marissa has applied for many, many scholarships. She has been honored to recieve two of them. The value of those, total, is $2,500. This leaves close to $20,000 for Marissa to figure out how to get to pay for school.

Please help keep her dream of attending college alive. She has a wonderful opportunity ahead of her, she just needs that little bit of help to get her there.

Thank you. God Bless!