Julia's College Tuition
Donation protected
My name is Julia Keene and I have just started my college experience away from the life that I knew so well. I want to start by explaining why it is so important for me to continue college.
I grew up in an extremely toxic environment. I did not have much time to spend being a child, from around the age of seven I have been taking care of myself. My mother was a drug addict throughout my childhood and overdosed several times and I had to take on the responsibility of calling 911 and making sure that she made it to the hospital. It wasn't until middle school that her drug addicition really hit me, she risked my life by putting me in the car while she was using. She ended up getting pulled over and I had to watch her get arrested and put in the back of the police car. She went to jail for three years for child cruelty against me and I did not see her all of that time.
I had to live with my father from then on and he is an alcoholic and he could not afford any of the places that we lived, we jumped around more apartments than I can count. We were evicted more times than I can count. I was homeless during high school and I lived with several people and friends who were kind enough to take me in. My life revolved around social workers and feeling ashamed and like a burden to the people who had to take me in.
I have never wanted to follow my family's cycle of drug an alcohol abuse. I got so involved during high school while trying to get away from the life I had at home. I became student council president, I tested into AP and honors courses, I signed up for buisness clubs, art clubs, I published my poetry in my high school's literary book. I did absolutely everything in my power to make a path of my own and make it to college. And I did it.
I am currently a student now at Ithaca College but the same cycles of poverty and struggle are repeating in my life because my father can't pay my tuition anymore. I worked so hard to be where I am and I defeated all of the odds that were against me but without help paying my tuition I will have to go back home to the same environment I worked my entire life to get away from.
If I am able to get the money for my tuition I will be eternally grateful, I want more than anything to feel like I have control over my life and that the circumstances that I was born into will not always take hold of my life. I am so passionate about school and it is the most important thing to me, I hope that I will be able to continue my education because I do not want my family's financial struggles to be the reason I don't get to persue the life I have worked so hard to get.
Thank you so much for taking the time to read my story, I hope that you find it worthy of a cause to donate. It would mean more than you will ever understand.
Sincerely,
Julia Keene
I grew up in an extremely toxic environment. I did not have much time to spend being a child, from around the age of seven I have been taking care of myself. My mother was a drug addict throughout my childhood and overdosed several times and I had to take on the responsibility of calling 911 and making sure that she made it to the hospital. It wasn't until middle school that her drug addicition really hit me, she risked my life by putting me in the car while she was using. She ended up getting pulled over and I had to watch her get arrested and put in the back of the police car. She went to jail for three years for child cruelty against me and I did not see her all of that time.
I had to live with my father from then on and he is an alcoholic and he could not afford any of the places that we lived, we jumped around more apartments than I can count. We were evicted more times than I can count. I was homeless during high school and I lived with several people and friends who were kind enough to take me in. My life revolved around social workers and feeling ashamed and like a burden to the people who had to take me in.
I have never wanted to follow my family's cycle of drug an alcohol abuse. I got so involved during high school while trying to get away from the life I had at home. I became student council president, I tested into AP and honors courses, I signed up for buisness clubs, art clubs, I published my poetry in my high school's literary book. I did absolutely everything in my power to make a path of my own and make it to college. And I did it.
I am currently a student now at Ithaca College but the same cycles of poverty and struggle are repeating in my life because my father can't pay my tuition anymore. I worked so hard to be where I am and I defeated all of the odds that were against me but without help paying my tuition I will have to go back home to the same environment I worked my entire life to get away from.
If I am able to get the money for my tuition I will be eternally grateful, I want more than anything to feel like I have control over my life and that the circumstances that I was born into will not always take hold of my life. I am so passionate about school and it is the most important thing to me, I hope that I will be able to continue my education because I do not want my family's financial struggles to be the reason I don't get to persue the life I have worked so hard to get.
Thank you so much for taking the time to read my story, I hope that you find it worthy of a cause to donate. It would mean more than you will ever understand.
Sincerely,
Julia Keene
Organizer
Julia Keene
Organizer
Ithaca, NY
