Please Help Send Alexis to Nursing School!
Donation protected
I work in the biology department at a local college. Microbiology, in particular, has been our most difficult class to transition to an online format. With it being a higher-level biology course, the students enrolled typically know well what they’re doing, especially at this point in the semester. Unfortunately, the online transition has proved difficult and frustrating for many. The one bright side of this, however, is that I’m now more personally acquainted with many of the students than I was before, including Alexis.
Although I’d known Alexis from our previous work together on campus, it’s been our subsequent interactions online, since sheltering in place began, that has enabled me to know her well. I already knew her to be an incredibly smart young woman and a very hard-working student, as well as an active peer leader. But it wasn’t until recently that I was also able to see just how kind and compassionate she is. A number of students in the class have been overwhelmed, sometimes to an emotional degree, and I’ve found it was Alexis giving them the support they needed, both academically and in terms of morale, to get them back on track. Her kind and generous spirit has proven invaluable to the class as a whole.
As well, there’s the goal that Alexis and I share: we both plan to go to nursing school to pursue getting our RN. Only a few weeks ago, we happened to be in the same interview group and sadly, at that time, I learned through one of her responses that her mother is battling cancer. The day we got the news that we’d both been accepted into the nursing program started with excitement, but, for Alexis, it quickly became overwhelming because of the estimated expenses, which total around $7700 . Unfortunately, due to Coronavirus, Alexis’ hours at work were cut drastically a few weeks ago, to the point that she’ll no longer be able to save and pay for school, as she had planned. Being the first one in her family to go to college, she reached out to me to ask if I knew of any resources for scholarships. Sadly I haven’t come across anything yet with deadlines that will work with her almost immediate needs, so thought I’d try GoFundMe.
Alexis is a very independent young lady, having been totally self-sufficient since she was 18. Knowing her as a student, she is laser-focused and will not let anything stand in her way until she’s a Registered Nurse! She’s kind, compassionate, and very much the type of person who is more comfortable helping other people than being helped herself.
Maybe it’s that I feel so many of us have taken the ability to pay for tuition for granted (I know I did at that age); maybe it’s that nurses are literally dying today on the frontlines of a pandemic and yet, here is Alexis still trying to run into the burning building, so to speak; maybe it’s imagining my little girl being 25 and in this situation, feeling so helpless, I’m not sure; but, her story is so compelling and so humbling to me and I simply can't stop thinking about it.
I’ve never done a GoFundMe for someone, but she's so very deserving. It would be amazing if my friends or those in my community would pass this onto their friends, and then maybe someday soon I could tell Alexis she doesn't have to worry about the expenses. No matter what, please know that I truly appreciate you sharing this with someone else or even just donating $1 to help this amazing person become an amazing nurse!
Sincerely,
Sydney
Although I’d known Alexis from our previous work together on campus, it’s been our subsequent interactions online, since sheltering in place began, that has enabled me to know her well. I already knew her to be an incredibly smart young woman and a very hard-working student, as well as an active peer leader. But it wasn’t until recently that I was also able to see just how kind and compassionate she is. A number of students in the class have been overwhelmed, sometimes to an emotional degree, and I’ve found it was Alexis giving them the support they needed, both academically and in terms of morale, to get them back on track. Her kind and generous spirit has proven invaluable to the class as a whole.
As well, there’s the goal that Alexis and I share: we both plan to go to nursing school to pursue getting our RN. Only a few weeks ago, we happened to be in the same interview group and sadly, at that time, I learned through one of her responses that her mother is battling cancer. The day we got the news that we’d both been accepted into the nursing program started with excitement, but, for Alexis, it quickly became overwhelming because of the estimated expenses, which total around $7700 . Unfortunately, due to Coronavirus, Alexis’ hours at work were cut drastically a few weeks ago, to the point that she’ll no longer be able to save and pay for school, as she had planned. Being the first one in her family to go to college, she reached out to me to ask if I knew of any resources for scholarships. Sadly I haven’t come across anything yet with deadlines that will work with her almost immediate needs, so thought I’d try GoFundMe.
Alexis is a very independent young lady, having been totally self-sufficient since she was 18. Knowing her as a student, she is laser-focused and will not let anything stand in her way until she’s a Registered Nurse! She’s kind, compassionate, and very much the type of person who is more comfortable helping other people than being helped herself.
Maybe it’s that I feel so many of us have taken the ability to pay for tuition for granted (I know I did at that age); maybe it’s that nurses are literally dying today on the frontlines of a pandemic and yet, here is Alexis still trying to run into the burning building, so to speak; maybe it’s imagining my little girl being 25 and in this situation, feeling so helpless, I’m not sure; but, her story is so compelling and so humbling to me and I simply can't stop thinking about it.
I’ve never done a GoFundMe for someone, but she's so very deserving. It would be amazing if my friends or those in my community would pass this onto their friends, and then maybe someday soon I could tell Alexis she doesn't have to worry about the expenses. No matter what, please know that I truly appreciate you sharing this with someone else or even just donating $1 to help this amazing person become an amazing nurse!
Sincerely,
Sydney
Organizer and beneficiary
Sydney Riley
Organizer
Dallas, TX
Alexis Oakley
Beneficiary