My name is Lyric Reade, I am a lifelong artist - professional for around 5 years - of many disciplines, I am nearing 18 years old, and I am a French student with much larger goals than just high school French.

Through West Allis Central High School, there is an upcoming opportunity for students to go live with a host family in France for 5 days, and then travel to many of the arts and culture hot-spots for another 5, making a 10 day trip.

My biggest obstacle, however, is the price.

The trip in it's entirety is $3,500, and I would need to have a deposit of $1,000 by October 10th to even have the chance of going.

These kinds of experiences have never been accessible to me, so the $3,500 pricetag wasn't a surprise, but something about this trip rubbed a little more salt in the wound. Maybe it was the fact that it's France, but I think it's because of how arts-based the itinerary is this time around. Our abroad school trips have never been MORE geared for me.

In due time, I plan to head to college in France as an Arts and Business double-major, which is why going on this trip would be so influential and important to me, beyond what a wonderful experience going abroad is. They say that immersion is the best way to learn a language, and that is absolutely the truth; this trip would do so much for my comprehension, prononciation, and overall understanding of the language while giving me a taste of what my future holds for me.

If you know me at all, you know that I have always been very firm in my goals and aspirations, so a trip like this is something I've been desperately waiting for.

If you can give anything at all, it pushes me one step closer to being able to accomplish something I've been so passionate about for so long. I would be immensely grateful for any amount of help.

Thank you, merci!