Terrell's Tuskegee Univ. Tuition
Donation protected
My name is Dee Watkins, I am a transplant from Chicago to the Atlanta Metro area. I have the great pleasure to be a supporter and "Village mom" to a wonderful 19 year old young man named Terrell Starks. Terrell has created a very small village of people bound by love, not blood who love him, and support his decision to pursue higher education. Terrell is from Chicago and a Chemical Engineering student at Tuskegee University. He was a talented student all throughout high school. His grades, positive attitude and drive earned him multiple scholarships totaling $33,000 per year to attend Tuskegee. This is a great and much needed experience coming out of Chicago considering some of the horrible stories that we continue to see of what can happen to a young black male with no resources. He is of the first generation to attend college in his family.
Even though he is a fabulous kid, the truth is he doesn’t have much (enough) financial or moral support. His resourcefulness allowed him to register himself in his classes, get transportation to Tuskegee, find his own dorm room, meet his roommate/schoolmates accompanied by their parents/ families (who frequently visited throughout the school year to attend various school events), and finally settled in enough to immerse himself into his schoolwork. He earned a 3.7 GPA taking classes like Thermodynamics in his first semester. In his 2nd semester he earned a 3.8 GPA. Each semester comes with a different set of challenges. Despite these challenges Terrell perseveres and strives to get better.
He struggled financially to get back home for holiday breaks, and at times missed the opportunity to go home at all. He received limited care packages, phone calls and the list kind of goes on and on about the lack of support.
Due to this lack of support, Terrell had to pass up the opportunity to intern at Exxon Mobil at their London office this summer. Instead he made the decision ON HIS OWN to work at a movie theater to earn money for this upcoming school year, which was only enough to pay for incidentals.
A few days ago Terrell was informed that $6,000 of In-House scholarship money that had been promised was no longer available. These monies had been “secured” by a former staff member. As has been reported the past President and staff of Tuskegee were fired earlier this year. See article here (http://www.diverseeducation.com/article/97102/).
This has created a huge hardship for him. His first response was to take the semester off to work. This in my opinion is not the best decision by far and will result in another missed opportunity and/or delay his educational goals.
Therefore, I am asking for your support to help fund the $6,000 tuition shortfall for his 2nd year Fall semester. In the event that there are donated funds in excess of this deficit, those funds will be used to pay for basic necessities throughout the school year. The donated funds will be deposited into a no annual fee, no minimum requirement, high interest earning savings account. The goal will be for Terrell to continue to contribute to that savings account to build an emergency fund for himself with guided financial coaching assistance along the way.
Going forward Terrell will continue to apply for other scholarships, as he is academically well qualified for many, to make up for any future tuition shortfalls.
Thank you in advance for ANY and ALL support that you can provide for Terrell. Blessings to you…
Even though he is a fabulous kid, the truth is he doesn’t have much (enough) financial or moral support. His resourcefulness allowed him to register himself in his classes, get transportation to Tuskegee, find his own dorm room, meet his roommate/schoolmates accompanied by their parents/ families (who frequently visited throughout the school year to attend various school events), and finally settled in enough to immerse himself into his schoolwork. He earned a 3.7 GPA taking classes like Thermodynamics in his first semester. In his 2nd semester he earned a 3.8 GPA. Each semester comes with a different set of challenges. Despite these challenges Terrell perseveres and strives to get better.
He struggled financially to get back home for holiday breaks, and at times missed the opportunity to go home at all. He received limited care packages, phone calls and the list kind of goes on and on about the lack of support.
Due to this lack of support, Terrell had to pass up the opportunity to intern at Exxon Mobil at their London office this summer. Instead he made the decision ON HIS OWN to work at a movie theater to earn money for this upcoming school year, which was only enough to pay for incidentals.
A few days ago Terrell was informed that $6,000 of In-House scholarship money that had been promised was no longer available. These monies had been “secured” by a former staff member. As has been reported the past President and staff of Tuskegee were fired earlier this year. See article here (http://www.diverseeducation.com/article/97102/).
This has created a huge hardship for him. His first response was to take the semester off to work. This in my opinion is not the best decision by far and will result in another missed opportunity and/or delay his educational goals.
Therefore, I am asking for your support to help fund the $6,000 tuition shortfall for his 2nd year Fall semester. In the event that there are donated funds in excess of this deficit, those funds will be used to pay for basic necessities throughout the school year. The donated funds will be deposited into a no annual fee, no minimum requirement, high interest earning savings account. The goal will be for Terrell to continue to contribute to that savings account to build an emergency fund for himself with guided financial coaching assistance along the way.
Going forward Terrell will continue to apply for other scholarships, as he is academically well qualified for many, to make up for any future tuition shortfalls.
Thank you in advance for ANY and ALL support that you can provide for Terrell. Blessings to you…
Organizer
Dee Watkins
Organizer
Smyrna, GA
