Sending financially-challenged students abroad

Hi everyone, Wayne here.

BLUF: I want to give back to a place that fundamentally altered the course of my life. Brunswick County Early College High School (BCECHS) left an indelible mark on my character that enabled me to break a generational cycle of poverty and aspire to know a world far beyond the bounds of rural North Carolina- perhaps only comparable to the Navy itself. I would like to play a part in giving someone else a similar opportunity, and I would like to channel the people of The Reactor is Critical to help do it.

This fundraiser pays to give one student, who couldn't otherwise afford it, an educational tour abroad. 100% of these donations will go to the students of BCECHS, period.

If that isn’t enough for you, here’s my sappy story:

I grew up poor. I lived in a trailer that reeked of cigarettes and booze with people who quarreled violently over anything and everything. My father was an alcoholic, my mother was manic-depressive, and my older brother was a virulent narcissist. Such situations weren’t so uncommon in early 2000s Brunswick County, North Carolina and, unfortunately, many people raised like that are beholden to the toxic behavioral patterns of their forefathers long after they’ve reached adulthood.

It takes an awful lot of good outside influences to show a fledging teenager what healthy people look and act like. It takes being immersed in a culture of people who are committed to being better than what they came from and who brazenly dare to refuse to be held back by the socioeconomic realities of their region. Brunswick County Early College High School *is* that culture, and I think that the students there are among some of the people most likely to rise to the occasion.

The staff at BCECHS consistently told me they believed in me, even when I frankly didn’t care. They inspired me to look past all the pain my family was both causing and enduring and seek out something more. Dr. Vicky Snyder, the principal at the time, personally pulled me aside and let me know just how important it was to her that all her students succeeded- not just the ones who came from good backgrounds. I was on the verge of going down the same terrible path of my family, and I near single-handedly attribute the eye-opening experience that BCECHS provided as the reason I broke out of that mindset.

It's been a decade and some change since I graduated, and BCECHS is still doing the same thing. Providing underprivileged students with an opportunity to know more, see more, and do more. They’ve recently incorporated international educational experiences as an option for students to take but, as I’m sure you understand, these trips require a considerable amount of funds for working-class people in rural North Carolina.

I would like to kindly ask you all, as a community of people who know what it is like to struggle, to help me give back to a place that did so much for me at a time when I truly needed it. I sincerely believe that giving back to those who have less but deserve more is what makes the world a better place, and I think that giving one of these aspiring students a once-in-a-lifetime experience will only pique their appetite to study harder, know more, and strive to the best they possibly can.

Thanks for reading.