HELP ME GO TO JUILLIARD

My name is William Franklyn Leathers, and I was born and raised in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. I've been playing the piano since the age of four, and when I was 12 years old, I became the youngest trumpeter accepted into the Toronto Symphony Youth Orchestra, as well as the Halton Mississauga Youth Orchestra. So it was a dream come true for me when I received my acceptance letter to The Juilliard School since I'm one of only three undergraduate trumpeters that were accepted to Juilliard this year.



The biggest challenge for me, right now, is being able to cover tuition and housing expenses. My parents are doing their best, but right now we're in a bit of a funding shortfall. The total cost for Juilliard is $71,000 in US dollars per year for four years, which comes out to roughly $91,000 every year in Canadian dollars. We've been able to put together about $25,500 so far, and unfortunately, scholarships and grants are harder to come by as an international student. So I'm raising money to at least cover the first year, and we'll see where it goes from there.




I've wanted to go to Juilliard for as long as I can remember, and I'll never forget the look on my parents' face when we opened the acceptance letter. But the reality is, there's a pretty big gap between what our family can come up with, and what it costs for tuition, housing, and books. So if you can find it in your heart to help, my family and I would appreciate it so much.



Thanks again, and I hope to make everyone proud!

UPDATE: After speaking with donors and family, I'm going to keep the fundraiser open, as well as donate 10% of all proceeds towards creating a scholarship fund for other young artists. If we can beat the 4-year tuition goal ($260,000) every dollar raised above that amount will go towards the scholarship.


Thanks so much for your help! We've raised enough to cover my first year of school! We've raised so far $102,000!! We have $160,000 to go.