Help Fund Carol Dimond's Spanish Immersion Culinary Trip

My name is Carol Dimond, and I am raising money to fund a culinary Spanish immersion program in Spain this summer, but we will need to act fast to ensure I can meet the financial deadlines.

I'm a junior at Hopkins High School who is pursuing a culinary career, and I am very serious about my studies. I have taken all of the offered culinary classes at school, and this year I was a part of our Prostart team. We spent 5 months designing and practicing a three course meal for the Minnesota competition, and we placed fourth out of nineteen total teams. I am also passionate about Spanish, and have been taking college level classes throughout all of high school.

My school is partnered with an organisation called CIEE, or Council on International Educational Exchange. Once a year, a representative from this organisation visits our class and explains the studying abroad programs that they are offering. This year, I saw that one of the options was a culinary arts and Spanish culture trip, and I was delighted. I applied for a scholarship to help cover the cost of the trip, and that earned me $4,635 out of the $6,150 total cost. This means I am left crowdsourcing the remainder of the funding, which comes out to $1,785. There is a $1,000 deposit due on March 26th, and the rest of the money will be due on April 15th. I am also raising money for plane tickets, the cost of which I do not currently know as it's so far in advance, but that is why the goal is $4k in total (for now at least).

This is an incredible opportunity that will provide immeasurable value to my career. Having this experience will alap earn me a certificate of bilingualism, which is extremely useful in this field. This trip will ensure that I stand out among other applicants at any job I apply for in the future. I will likely never be granted an opportunity as exciting as this again, as my high school years are quickly coming to an end. This is why I ask for your help in reaching my financial goals.

If you would like to see a full list of my culinary achievements, I will be happy to provide more details! Thank you so much for reading, and I would be honoured to receive any amount of financial support. You would be helping make an aspiring chef's dreams come true!