Help Noah study abroad his Senior year in Japan!

Hello,

My name is Noah Burstein. I'm 16 years old and I live in Eugene, Oregon in the United States, I'm in my Junior year of High School here (11th Grade). I keep up with my schoolwork well and I currently have a 4.0 GPA. I am enrolled in an accelerated courses program at my school called International High School (IHS) which focuses on taking classes on a global scale rather than just restricting oneself to the United States.

This is relevant because of who I am as a person and what I'm interested in, that is the other cultures and histories of other places in the world. I want to fully immerse myself in the human race during my lifespan and learn what it's like to live with a focus on everyone in the world rather than just on my own country. Specifically, I am incredibly interested in the island nation of Japan and its wonderfully rich and beautiful culture. It's a land of deep history, a place of cultural differences, and it has natural beauty like no other. I have essentially fallen in love with the place. Because of this, I've made it an extreme goal of mine to study abroad in Japan for my Senior year of High School (2023 - 2024), so I can immerse myself in its society, people, history, language, and all-around culture. I specifically want to focus on learning the language so I can better engage with these other aspects of the country, I even took a 3rd-year level Japanese at my high school when I was a Sophomore because of how personally dedicated I am.

However, most High School study abroad programs that I've researched have a cost of around $15,000 - $18,000 which is an amount to which I have nothing close to nor do my parents have even close to enough available money to pay for this without going into thousands of dollars of more debt. However I wouldn't let that stop me, I am too passionate about studying abroad in Japan to give up so easily. To reach this goal, I have thrust myself into working 2 jobs for a total of 30-hour weeks while also doing school and keeping up with my grades. I already have saved over $2000 in my bank account working these 2 jobs. However because of this, I am very stressed out and have little time to rest, but I feel that I don't have a choice and I have to keep working for these jobs and school, so I am able to follow my dream of studying abroad in the place I love.

I will continue to work for as long as I need to no matter what, that is not something I can give up on. However, if you are willing to contribute even a little bit of money, anything helps. Any contribution that will help alleviate my stress even a little will mean the world to me, and I would be forever thankful.

Thank you for reading this long-winded story, I hope you will achieve your dreams the same way I will passionately pursue mine. <3

Note: If unforeseen circumstances (ex. pandemic, scheduling, possible future family problems, etc.) and this program does not end up working for my High School Senior year I will use any and all funds raised to study abroad in Japan during my college years.