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1st Generation College Student Needs Your Help

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Hello everyone. My name is Synquetta and I am a Philadelphia Native. I’m the first in my family to attend and graduate from College but I need your help in order to be a part of the graduation ceremony. A hold has been placed on my account at Temple University because I still owe tuition money from my last semester. I finished the last of my classes in December 2018. I currently owe Temple almost 6000 dollars. I didn’t receive much financial aid, so I have to pay the remaining balance out of pocket. If you can, please donate and/or share my GoFundMe page.

A peak into my past: Brief Autobiography

              I grow up in the lower income areas of Philadelphia. As a kid, I never planned or imagined myself going to a University. College was never mentioned in my household while I was growing up. My biological mom who I lived with up until the age of 14 dropped out of high school in 10th or 11th grade. I am the youngest of my siblings. My sister Victoria and oldest brother Demetrius (R.I.P. 2010) never graduated from high school. This was a normal thing that occurred in a lot of the families in my neighborhood. My brother Elias was the first in our family to graduate from high school. Not too long after, I also graduated from high school. The years I spent in high school were not easy for me. I didn’t struggle with the academics in high school, I struggled with trying to find a stable home to live in. After the 9th grade, I no longer had a home and I did not have the option to live with family. My biological mom succumbed to her lifelong addiction of narcotics and lost the home we were living in at the time. We were living in section 8 housing, but my biological mom’s addiction eventually took everything we had.

I grew up in a single-family home with a mom that still struggles until this day with her addiction. Growing up, my childhood was rough. I have seen things and experienced things I am only beginning to feel comfortable enough discussing in therapy. When my biological mom lost our home, I was in 9th grade. New friends of the family allowed me to live with them and their 6 children. After a few months, I was asked to move out because of limited resources. They could not afford to feed an extra mouth and my biological mom spent everything we received each month from public assistance on drugs. I had little contact with my biological mom during these times. I didn’t know where she lived or how to contact her. My brother Elias saved me from being homeless at this time. Eli begged his best friend Samantha to ask her parents if I could live with them. Her parents eventually agreed, and I am eternally grateful to have them in my life. Throughout my years in high school, I bounced around a lot living in different homes of family friends. Eventually, the summer before my senior year, I had no other options but to get my own place. I was 17 years old when I moved into my first studio apartment alone. Since then, I have been the only person providing for myself. I am truly blessed to have made it this far in life.

              Getting accepted into Temple University was a dream come true back in 2010. After losing my brother Demetrius to gun violence a week after graduating from high school in 2010, I regained hope in life when I began attending Temple University. A lot has happened since I first began TU in 2010. I took a medical leave in 2013 and returned in 2016. I just finished my last semester at TU December 22, 2018. I am absolutely thrilled to become a Temple Graduate. My hard work has finally paid off. I am going to have a Bachelor of Science degree in Kinesiology. Unfortunately, I still owe Temple tuition from the Fall semester of 2018. I can’t be a part of my graduating class’s ceremony because of the money I owe. Universities also hold your transcript hostage until you pay off what you owe. I work full time as an EMT currently but I’m not making enough to pay off what I owe in time for graduation. I’ve been let down so many times in my life now, that I don’t like asking others for help. Sadly, I expect the worst to happen so that I am not surprised by any outcomes. I want to be more optimistic about life again. Walking down the aisle in May with my fellow classmates while wearing a cap and gown is a life experience I could never forget. This is my last resort. I’m not comfortable asking others for help, especially people who do not know me. I tried getting a loan, but I was rejected, and I don’t have a co-signer to help. Perhaps I would have had a better chance of getting approved if for my cat didn’t need surgery this past summer. I am thankful for Care Credit, but my credit score is suffering because of it. I don’t regret it though; my cat is alive and healthy. Thank you for taking the time to read my profile. I am extremely grateful to anyone that has the means to donate. Thank you so much!

              The ceremony will be in May 2019. I was a student in the College of Public Health and they only have graduation ceremonies in May. I am hoping to raise enough money for tuition by 4/16/19. I’ll call Temple to see when will be the last day to register for the ceremony.


IG: Synquetta21

Organizer

Synquetta Blackmon
Organizer
Philadelphia, PA

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