Hello,

My name is Gerbenn, and I’m a student pursuing engineering while navigating life independently as a student with lived experience in the foster care system. I came to the Bay Area on my own without family support, and since then I’ve been responsible for everything: school, work, and basic survival.

For a long time, people have told me I should start a GoFundMe, but I hesitated. Coming from my background, asking for help has always felt uncomfortable, like I should be able to figure everything out on my own. After attending the Youth Empowerment Summit in Sacramento and hearing it again from multiple people, I realized that being honest about my situation doesn’t make me weak; it just means I’m trying to keep going. And I really want to keep going! So I have decided to share…

My Story

I have always loved learning and have thrived in school. While in Florida, I took an exam to graduate high school early and started college at the age of 15. College was amazing but Florida is a very challenging state to be alone as a transition aged youth – which is why I decided to come to California. What I unfortunately didn’t realize is that I would be required to pay back all of my college advances and I ended up with a $70,000 tuition bill.

Up to this point, I’ve paid over $45,000 on my own while being homeless for part of this time and navigating life in the very expensive Bay Area; covering housing, food, school-related costs, and everything in between. I’ve done this by working consistently (including construction work), using financial aid where possible from my wonderful school Mission College in San Jose, and doing everything I can to stay in school.

At the same time, I’ve tried to give back however I can. I’ve been a community advocate and student voice from Santa Clara County up to San Francisco, attending City Council and County Board of Supervisor meetings. Speaking up in spaces where students like me are often unheard, I’ve helped push for better opportunities for youth who have experienced foster care, housing insecurity, or both. I have tutored other students and have stayed involved in nonprofit and community work, trying to support others – even while figuring things out myself. (Note: some of the photos here are from my advocacy work.)

At Mission College, I’ve been making straight As, was just honored as Student of the Year, have exceptional entrance exam scores, and am well positioned to achieve my goal of transferring to a top tier University to get a degree in bio-medical engineering. Some extracurricular research I’ve done has even resulted in two papers published in the National Library of Medicine! (see below)

Right now, the main challenge I’m facing is an outstanding balance with my former private university, which is preventing my official transcript from being released. This has directly impacted my ability to transfer schools, even though I have a strong academic record. I’ve been working to pay this off on my own, including using financial aid funds and income from work, but it’s been extremely difficult to fully catch up while covering everything else.

This support would go toward:

• Paying down the remaining balance so my transcript can be released

• Recovering from financial aid funds that had to be redirected toward survival costs

• Helping me stay on track with my education and transfer goals

I want to be clear; I’m still working, still pushing, and still doing everything I can on my end. This isn’t me giving up; it’s me asking for support so I can keep going forward without falling behind because of barriers outside of my control.

Thank you!

Thank you so much for taking the time to listen to my story.

If you’re able to contribute to my educational goals and/or share this with other professionals, I would be so grateful! I truly appreciate it! And if not, I completely understand; your encouragement still means a lot.

P.S. If you would like to know more about me and some of my research work, you can google my name Gerbenn Seraphin and put in Vitamin D to see my other work.

Also, Fostering Promise, a non-profit I work for, recently profiled me in their monthly newsletter. You can read it here, if you’re interested.