Ruby Goes to College
It's tough to ask for financial help. Especially when most people don't really understand how much we need it. We keep a brave face and go on as best we can, always keeping a positive attitude and working hard. As parents, when we still come up short, day after day, month after month, year after year, it's hard to know what to do, what to say. But there's no shame, no blame. We just keep doing the best we can.
We love our amazing, wonderfully talented, refreshingly genuine daughter, Ruby Helene Johnson, who graduates valedictorian of South Medford High School in June 2017. She's been accepted to Connecticut College, which costs $70K/year. Her exceptional achievements and honors have resulted in grants and scholarships, plus work/study, which, added all together will pay nearly the entire amount needed every year for all 4 years. Her 4-year loan amount is approximately $10K total, which leaves her own contribution to be approximately $2000/year, expected to be earned each summer.
That's the good news! The bad news is, we, her parents, presently don't have the funds or credit to get her the 3000+ miles from Oregon to Connecticut by the start of school on August 24th. So often since 2009, it has felt like we have had so very little to give her ~ except our sticktoittiveness and our love. Yet she takes that guidance and that love, and every day transforms it tenfold. Ruby's the kind of young person with integrity that we need more of in this world ~ she's not only a beloved teacher of music and ice skating, an award-winning singer, a creative and artistic accomplished student and mentor, she's also a deep thinker and go-getter who daily goes above and beyond what's expected, aiming to change the world for the better. So Ruby is a lot more than a valedictorian at South. She's a person we can all look up to. I know I do.
The road trip we want to take is as much about reassuring us as it is for her. As none of us has been there, we want to see it all together, to know first-hand where she'll be living for the next four years. Homesickness may be inevitable, especially since we don't know whether we'll be able to afford to bring her home for vacations. All the more reason we can't just make the soul-crushing choice of putting her on a plane and waving goodbye ~ as capable as she is of doing that. (She's been sent by generous folks to whom we are eternally grateful ~ to LA, DC, and even Canada. For her 8th-grade project, Ruby took a Greyhound to Portland by herself, to record her own original song.) The goal of taking a road trip, then, is about sealing the bond of family ~ granting us sanity in the face of great change. Please help us make this dream a reality.
How much will it cost? There are many different ways we could do it, and it also depends on how fast we do it; but a ballpark estimate including car maintenance, gasoline, campsites, motels, food, and contingency, is likely around $5000. Your graduation gift in any amount will go a long way toward kickstarting Ruby's new life. If you can't donate, no worries. We still hope you'll come along with us on this new adventure, by reading our Updates. (Just Subscribe to Updates ~ by clicking below ~ or, better yet, just email Janis at [email redacted] and ask to be added to our list.)
If you live anywhere along the route between Medford, OR and New London, CT, let us know if we can stop in and say hi and thank you in person for helping us out. And, if you have any advice on how to make our trip less costly or more fun, we will appreciate receiving all your good ideas, too!
Visit Ruby's YouTube Channel at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCu-lQW642SR5_Oykmn4oYXw
We thank you from the bottom of our hearts. We'll be posting more as we go. If there's anything you'd like to know, just ask!