The hardest part of growing up is learning when to ask for help. I graduated from San Diego State University, and I was alone. But I had learned how to be a man, to prioritize what was right, to know value when I see it. So now I’m ready to be that man who pursues his dreams, but I’ve spent everything I had to get me there. What I have left is hope and determination, and I need your  help getting there. My dream may seem simple on paper, but to me it’s as great and undeniable as the horizon. And with your help, I can get there. When I discovered my passion for stand up comedy I made a promise. A promise to my family, to myself, and to all those asking when I would make the big move to LA: I will move when I graduate from college. With that promise to finish my schooling I had the support needed to move forward. Without it I could not, for, “Education is the key to unlock the golden door of freedom” - George Washington Carver. I worked full time to pay for my tuition. I was determined to pay for school as I worked towards my diploma so that I would be able to graduate without student loans. I worked hard and struggled harder to pay for my schooling, and ended up having to live out of my car to make ends meet. Waking up early for school, then going to work, then to comedy clubs only to come “home” to my front seat. But I wholeheartedly believe that “An investment in knowledge pays the best interest” - Benjamin Franklin. I was determined to prove my worth and fulfill my promises. Just as I had figured out my living situation, I was struck with the heartbreak of my grandmother’s death. She was my childhood bowling buddy, my cookies at Christmas, my lap during Wheel of Fortune, my heartbeat to sleep. I lost someone dear and lost some traction as well, causing me to stumble but not quite fall. Shortly after, my grandfather was diagnosed with Stage 4 Prostate Cancer, which resulted in a Colonoscopy to remove his tumors. He needed help and my family asked me to care for him while he was in and out of the hospital. Without hesitation I accepted and moved out of my place to help him in the home I grew up in as a child. It was a role reversal. Over twenty years ago he had been changing my diapers, and now I was the one changing his colostomy bag. I could remember when he made me breakfast and dinner. I could remember when he helped me up and down the stairs keeping a watchful eye in case I fell, when he  woke me up and tucked me in. Now it was my turn. As he watched me going to school, working, and performing comedy, sometimes taking the bus because my car had broken down yet again, he told me how I reminded him of when he was going to college in Brooklyn to earn his Doctorate. “How ya doin sport?” he would ask and we’d talk of our day. “How ya doing Grandpa?” His response never changed, “Great for an old man, terrible for a young one!” He was making progress slowly, little by little his strength returned, and as it did, so did my strength in my studies. Until one fateful day, when my uncle, Grandpa’s youngest son, committed suicide which greatly impeded my grandfather’s recovery. When Grandpa died, so did a huge part of me. He was the patriarch of the family, my personal hero that I had looked up to for as long as I can remember. And now he was gone. I was still in school and I wanted to give up. One of the things he told me was "keep your head in the books sport," and that’s just what I did. I received my Associates degree at Grossmont College, and in my final semester made straight A's for the first time in my life. I had been accepted into SDSU, and I felt my Grandparents smile as I took a step closer to my promise. In the first semester of my senior year, I was finally gaining faith in myself and my strength, until a major car accident. A driver pinned my car with me inside against a wall on the freeway, resulting in sciatic nerve damage. I was hospitalized and went through physical therapy.
Right before finals, I was the victim of a hate crime. A man threw a number of racial slurs along with a dart my way. It had hit the corner of my eye, barely missing the nerve that, if damaged, would have made me blind. The doctor said I was the luckiest person he’d ever seen, but I didn't see it that way. Detectives successfully found the man, but the damage was already done. The event scarred me to the core. The physical, emotional, and mental terrorism detached me from the optimistic worldview and people I had come love. It stripped me bare and rubbed me raw till my happy-go-lucky nature was replaced by frustration and fear. That act of hate smothered the light within and I almost quit school. But I remembered my promises and my grandfather’s advice to “keep your head in the books sport,” and not only finished the semester, but also the year. I got my degree! I managed to successfully balance a full time job a budding comedy career and my schoolwork, and paid off all my tuition. I kept my promises. Now it is time to take the next step and move to LA. Everything is a lesson and you can either learn from it or repeat the lesson until it is learned - much like school. I have learned to see all of my challenges as ways to grow and through all my lessons I feel the blessings bestowed. Although there were many obstacles, there was never a time when I didn't feel blessed. With the strength passed down to me by my grandparents, I am working harder than ever and will never give up. But strength also resides in humility, and thus I humbly ask for your help in turning the page towards the next chapter of my dream and promise. To lessen the challenges, I'm asking for assistance with my transition to LA in December.