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Goal achieved! Sami is back in TC!! Thank you for all your amazing support!
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UPDATE 7/20/19: Sami has secured $5000 more from family in Ecuador! I adjusted the goal to $3000 to reflect that... meaning we’re almost there!!
UPDATE 7/8/19: Sami has secured another $1000! Goal updated to $8000.
UPDATE 6/28/19: Sami has secured $1000 from family in Ecuador. Our goal has been adjusted to reflect that!
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Samantha (Sami) Maldonado joined our Traverse City community for the 2018-2019 school year, attending Central High School as an exchange student through International Cultural Exchange Services (ICES). Her original choices for a host state were Louisiana, California, or Florida, but through factors beyond her control, she landed with us, and we're so glad she did!
[This campaign offers REWARDS! See below for details.]

From the moment of her late-night August arrival, it was clear that Sami would be at home in Traverse City. She greeted us with immediate warmth and enthusiasm and wasted no time becoming a part of our little family. Over the past ten months, she has found other families within Traverse City as well, within Norte Youth Cycling, the VASA Ski Club, Central United Methodist Church , and our personal circle of close friends.
Sami is an exceptional student and has an impressive appetite for learning. She has concurrently completed both a full load of challenging classes at Central (maintaining a 4.0 GPA!) AND correspondence work for a junior year in Ecuador, since otherwise she would have been required to add another year to her high school career in order to do an exchange program. Somehow in the midst of all her studies she also found time to compete (and win!) mountain bike races, learn how to cross country ski, and volunteer her time for community organizations. Somehow in the midst of all THAT, we have still found time for adventures and a lot of fun!
Sami's dream is return to Traverse City next year to complete high school and to continue on for college in the United States. The biggest barrier standing between her and that dream is the large expense of TCAPS international student program fee: $13,000.
That fee is the result of a federal mandate requiring TCAPS to charge tuition that includes the "full, unsubsidized, per capita cost" of providing an individual student's education. For the 2018/19 school year, the official "foundation allowance" in Michigan was $7871 per student. We are not sure exactly how that results in the $13,000 fee, but we are continuing to research and will add everything we learn here, for full transparency.
That fee needs to be paid by August 1 in order for Sami to receive her new student visa and be enrolled at Central for this fall. We will continue fundraising past that date in order to maximize our window and provide reimbursement for some of the costs Sami's family may incur by having to pay the fee before she travels here.
Sami has already secured commitments from family in Ecuador totaling $3000. We are setting the goal of $10,000 through this platform, and the amount raised here will be added to what she is able to raise in person there. She traveled back to Quito on Tuesday, June 18 and has a busy summer ahead of her.
*****REWARDS!!!*****
While it may not be typical for a fundraising campaign like this to offer rewards, we would like to incentivize your contribution to Sami's goal:
If you contribute $100+, you'll receive an invitation to the Official Welcome Back Sami BBQ & Backyard Game Extravaganza in Traverse City.
If you contribute $250+, you'll receive a personalized handmade Ecuadorian gift delivered to you by Sami when she returns.
If you contribute $500+, you'll receive a 5-course dinner for four people, prepared by Jennifer and Jordan Yeatts.
If you contribute $1000+, Sami's family will host you and 3 others for a week in their home in Quito, Ecuador, with a guided tour of the city and customized travel recommendations.
If we are unable to raise the full amount necessary for the TCAPS fee and Sami ends up staying in Ecuador to finish high school, the money given will all support Sami's higher education, helping her to pay college tuition and fees. Ideally, that college education will happen here in the United States, but if she is unable to come back, your donations will still support her college in Ecuador or wherever she chooses to go.
THANK YOU for loving Sami and supporting her dreams!!
//
UPDATE 7/20/19: Sami has secured $5000 more from family in Ecuador! I adjusted the goal to $3000 to reflect that... meaning we’re almost there!!
UPDATE 7/8/19: Sami has secured another $1000! Goal updated to $8000.
UPDATE 6/28/19: Sami has secured $1000 from family in Ecuador. Our goal has been adjusted to reflect that!
//
Samantha (Sami) Maldonado joined our Traverse City community for the 2018-2019 school year, attending Central High School as an exchange student through International Cultural Exchange Services (ICES). Her original choices for a host state were Louisiana, California, or Florida, but through factors beyond her control, she landed with us, and we're so glad she did!
[This campaign offers REWARDS! See below for details.]
From the moment of her late-night August arrival, it was clear that Sami would be at home in Traverse City. She greeted us with immediate warmth and enthusiasm and wasted no time becoming a part of our little family. Over the past ten months, she has found other families within Traverse City as well, within Norte Youth Cycling, the VASA Ski Club, Central United Methodist Church , and our personal circle of close friends.
Sami is an exceptional student and has an impressive appetite for learning. She has concurrently completed both a full load of challenging classes at Central (maintaining a 4.0 GPA!) AND correspondence work for a junior year in Ecuador, since otherwise she would have been required to add another year to her high school career in order to do an exchange program. Somehow in the midst of all her studies she also found time to compete (and win!) mountain bike races, learn how to cross country ski, and volunteer her time for community organizations. Somehow in the midst of all THAT, we have still found time for adventures and a lot of fun!
Sami's dream is return to Traverse City next year to complete high school and to continue on for college in the United States. The biggest barrier standing between her and that dream is the large expense of TCAPS international student program fee: $13,000.
That fee is the result of a federal mandate requiring TCAPS to charge tuition that includes the "full, unsubsidized, per capita cost" of providing an individual student's education. For the 2018/19 school year, the official "foundation allowance" in Michigan was $7871 per student. We are not sure exactly how that results in the $13,000 fee, but we are continuing to research and will add everything we learn here, for full transparency.
That fee needs to be paid by August 1 in order for Sami to receive her new student visa and be enrolled at Central for this fall. We will continue fundraising past that date in order to maximize our window and provide reimbursement for some of the costs Sami's family may incur by having to pay the fee before she travels here.
Sami has already secured commitments from family in Ecuador totaling $3000. We are setting the goal of $10,000 through this platform, and the amount raised here will be added to what she is able to raise in person there. She traveled back to Quito on Tuesday, June 18 and has a busy summer ahead of her.
*****REWARDS!!!*****
While it may not be typical for a fundraising campaign like this to offer rewards, we would like to incentivize your contribution to Sami's goal:
If you contribute $100+, you'll receive an invitation to the Official Welcome Back Sami BBQ & Backyard Game Extravaganza in Traverse City.
If you contribute $250+, you'll receive a personalized handmade Ecuadorian gift delivered to you by Sami when she returns.
If you contribute $500+, you'll receive a 5-course dinner for four people, prepared by Jennifer and Jordan Yeatts.
If you contribute $1000+, Sami's family will host you and 3 others for a week in their home in Quito, Ecuador, with a guided tour of the city and customized travel recommendations.
If we are unable to raise the full amount necessary for the TCAPS fee and Sami ends up staying in Ecuador to finish high school, the money given will all support Sami's higher education, helping her to pay college tuition and fees. Ideally, that college education will happen here in the United States, but if she is unable to come back, your donations will still support her college in Ecuador or wherever she chooses to go.
THANK YOU for loving Sami and supporting her dreams!!