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Against all Odds Accepted to Uni

This is my son Ciaran.  He is from a small village just outside Dundee, Scotland.

He is 18 and Autistic. He hasn’t always had the easiest time.

After much hard work, he has recently been accepted in to Berklee College of music in Boston, USA . This school is the musical equivalent of Oxford or Cambridge or the Ivy League.

I am trying to help raise the much needed funds for him, as the fees are simply out of our reach.

The fees will cost around $70,000 a year but he has managed to win a $13,000 a year scholarship.

In GBP £, That breaks down to roughly £57,000 needed for each of the four years of his studies. Through private donations and other grant fund applications Ciaran has managed to bring the amount he needs to raise down to just under £26,000!!


Ciaran is currently doing everything he can to help raise some funds himself by working, applying for grants and tutoring.

Hopefully with your help, together with his hard-work, we can make this dream that he has had since turning 14 years old a reality.

That is when he told me, "Mum, I want to play Jazz and I want to learn from the best. I want to go to Berklee".

I told him that he could achieve anything, as long as he believed in himself as much as I believed in him.

This week we learned the amazing news! He has been accepted!





Please let me tell you a little about him:

Ciaran was born with a kidney and bladder condition and almost died as a baby.  He considers his life a blessing, and treats it as such.

He was bullied horrendously for much of his young school life, but always had a smile and a kind word for everyone that needed it.
 
He found music to be an escape, and slowly, it brought him out of his shell and delivered some much need confidence and self-belief.

Due to his experiences at school, Ciaran now spends his time teaching younger children about music, specifically Jazz and how it can bring real happiness in to your life.

Many people struggle to understand AUTISM and Ciaran was told to 'get real', by both his peers and some of his teachers. He was told he didn’t have a chance and yet he never let it deter him.

 He pushed on when many would have given up. It has taken hundreds of hours of practise and dedication.
To have overcome so many barriers- largely on his own- just melts my heart.

And I am so proud.
 
I don't deserve to have such a lovely, talented and kind boy.
 I am a very lucky mum.

Ciaran is so kind and has always tried his best to help care for me and his younger brother in the last few years, when chronic pain took away my ability to function at times. 

He deserves the world, and I wish that I was in the position to give it to him.  

It would be so sad if finance is the one barrier he can’t overcome, and ultimately takes his dream from him.

So please if you can ( even if its only £1) please help Ciaran make his dream come true!




Thank you for all your love and support.
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Donations 

  • Anonymous
    • £20 
    • 4 yrs
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Organizer and beneficiary

Christina Osterberg
Organizer
Ciaran Roberts-Osterberg
Beneficiary

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