Hello, my name is Cecilia Cruz, i will be a first year freshman at William Jessup University with my life long bestie, Mia Baxter. Mia is one of the strongest girls i have ever known and it would mean so much to me if you would take a moment to hear about her story.

Mia and I met in elementary school. We instantly clicked through our sassy personalities and drive. From Elementary to high school graduation, Mia has worked her butt off in school. She has had near perfect grades every year while being a student athlete and working hard to perfect her sport- cheer and STUNT.

Juggling school and cheer is not all she had to do, though. Mia is the oldest sister of 3 kids, all currently under the age of 10. Mia was raised by two hard working parents, however, her father fell ill which left most of the financial responsibility on her mothers shoulders. Throughout the school years, Mia’s siblings relied on her to make it to sports games, practices, birthday parties, be picked up from school, dinners, snacks, baths, etc., while her mother was hard at work to provide for the family. With this being said, Mia’s extra time was devoted to her siblings- and she did not have much of it.

During the last two months of senior year, a great opportunity came Mia’s way. She was offered a STUNT scholarship to a private, Christian university. She ultimately decided to accept the offer and jumpstart her career. Mia has always had big goals, one of which includes studying biology with the aspiration of becoming a genetic scientist. To have the opportunity to do this while continuing her passion for STUNT was amazing. However, the scholarship only covered so much of her tuition and in a single income household, financial help from family was not an option.

Mia knew what she was walking into and is going to give it her best shot. Mia plans on getting a job in college to pay off her tuition on her own, on top of studying and athletics. A summer job would have greatly helped, however, her fathers condition was getting worse. He was being transferred to different hospitals for additional help, meaning her mother had to be out of town more often to be with him and someone needed to be at home with the kids.

Unfortunately, last Friday, her father passed away. He fought long and hard, kept a smile through the pain and was an inspiration to many, many people- especially his children. The Baxter’s world is flipped upside down right now. Through the process of mourning an amazing father, husband, and friend, stressing over financial stability is the last thing that should be burdening this family.

Mia made the tough decision to believe in, and invest in herself knowing that she was going to be paving her own way financially. I decided to set up this go fund me because asking for help has always been out of character for Mia. But my best friend has been through so much and she always comes out stronger than before. I know, without a doubt in my mind, that she is going to do big things. She is going to make Eric proud, one milestone at a time- starting at that degree. And if you have even one dollar to spare that could help her get there, i would be infinitely grateful.

Thank you.