Hey everyone, I know during these hard times, many people are struggling, and at times like this, we can only look to each other for help. My name is Stephanie Tran Rojas, a recently graduated nursing student from the University of Pennsylvania, and I need your help to afford the unreasonably high fees associated with getting my nursing license. 

As a first-generation, low-income student, I conquered Penn using every resource available to experience opportunities otherwise inaccessible to me. I've worked in a Tibetan Buddhist retreat center in California to participating in media research in China on environmental activism. Even as a senior, I went abroad to Israel to study community health and started volunteering as an online crisis counselor. I never stopped seeking unique experiences despite my financial situation by making full use of every resource and support network possible. This allowed me to be the first in my family to go across the nation and obtain a four-year college degree in Nursing. Not only that, but having a full college experience without burdening my working class family or taking out student loans. 

However, all of this is no longer available to me as a graduated student. The multitude of scholarships and grants I can apply for, the student centers I can appeal to, or the work-study positions I can reasonably interview for are all gone. Even my private part-time online job was a position I could no longer keep after graduation. In the time of a pandemic with a dire need for healthcare workers, these high costs for licensure still stand in the way of graduated nursing students like me.

I have already used funds to cover unexpected expenses during quarantine, such as moving out alone to return to my family across the country from school. Although these costs are a setback, they can not stop me from attaining my goal of becoming a nurse and joining the force to combat COVID-19. I have always found a way, and this will be no different.

For any donations given, it would go to helping me pay:
- CA State Board of Nursing fee $350
- Pearson NCLEX fee $200
-NCLEX Prep materials $180
-FIngerprinting cost $75

UPDATE: Recently, I have raised the fundraising goal to $1,000 with all extra donations above the originally intended $800 to be used for helping my family's living expenses. Recently, a family member was in a vehicle accident and my family will anticipating an increased strain in handling this and our living costs with our limited employment and income. 

Thank you so much for supporting me and my journey in becoming a nurse during these times! I would not be here without the wide support I have been blessed to receive from many people and organizations that saw my potential. Thank you for standing by my side!