The Great Ted Space Race
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Welcome to The Great Ted Space Race. I would not being doing this if I was not dead serious about my dreams and ambitious. As some of you may already know, my dream is become an astronaut, but in order to get there, I need to get to school first. My dream school is the Florida Institute of Technology, where I was accepted into their aerospace engineering program. I have been forced to push my acceptance forward for over a year in order to try and finance the rest of the out-of-pocket cost of this school. I fell in love the first week and a half I was able to attend in January, and never wanted anything more when I was forced to withdraw and move back home in hopes of being able to financially afford this school in the upcoming Fall. I am short about 10 to 12 thousand dollars in order to get exactly what I left behind, and August of this year, 2018, is my deadline.
As of today, I have filled and applied to about 20 scholarship applications and have a database that I created with about 40 more to apply for. Unfortunately, my credit is not good enough for any credit-based loans, so I found so far 2 academic-based student loan opportunities that I have applied for, and will continue to search for more. I know this is a numbers game, so the bigger the net, the more chances I have to get some assistance. I must have a Plan A, B, and C, so that I know I can say I did everything I can to make my dream come true.
Winning St. Petersburg College's highest academic honor, the Apollo Award, has opened my eyes to opportunities that greater than I ever could have imagined. It has allowed me to trust in myself, and not just believe, but know that I destined for great things in this world. Throughout this process, I have to learned to appreciate this journey so much more, but I have also learned I must ask for help when it is needed. I promise you that I did everything I could to do this on my own and I have fallen short every time. It hurts, but I have also learned that we ask for help not because we are weak, but because we want to remain strong. And I am not going down without a fight.
I have set a goal of raising and saving just $1000 to take with me to Melbourne. I believe I can live in someone's rented room for a couple of months to survive until my federal work study income kicks in to continue to pay rent somewhere. Until I receive my financial award letter from the school, I believe I may have enough for tuition and books, but I am not a hundred percent that is the case just yet. Since this school is on the other coast Florida, I need to have money in order to live over there while I attend. There is no fighting that.
I have made some serious life changes in the last month to ensure that I am the most employable that I can be. Some of you know what I am talking about. I have also applied to two NASA internships for the Summer and one at Toyota. A full-time internship position will most definitely pay the most money in the shortest amount of time. Everyday, I comb the employment sites to search for work that can help assist me to saving this amount of money, but time can fly quicker than we would like sometimes. It is unfortunate but true, so as a realist, I am extending my hand out to you to help me get to where I know I belong while I continue my job search. I want to say that when I do finally accomplish my short and long-term goals of attending and graduating this school, that I will be immediately looking back to help return the favor to anyone and anything that has believed in me along the way.
This is not an easy thing to do, but I am here asking you or anyone reading this, if you would like to offer a helping financial hand to my dreams and aspirations, please know that you will live on in me and be apart of something much larger than we all can imagine. Thank you so much for taking the time to read and hear my story. I hope that all of us have a chance to live the lives we dreamed about when we were kids. I will be 30 years old this July, still chasing a childhood dream. And I've never been more proud of the person I have grown to be. Education keeps us young, and a strong, determined mentally will last a lifetime. We all deserve to be happy in this world, as this is the only life we have. Live your life the best possible way you can, and truly feel that good things are supposed to happen to us. Believe that, and we will all live a prosperous life. Thank you for your time.
As of today, I have filled and applied to about 20 scholarship applications and have a database that I created with about 40 more to apply for. Unfortunately, my credit is not good enough for any credit-based loans, so I found so far 2 academic-based student loan opportunities that I have applied for, and will continue to search for more. I know this is a numbers game, so the bigger the net, the more chances I have to get some assistance. I must have a Plan A, B, and C, so that I know I can say I did everything I can to make my dream come true.
Winning St. Petersburg College's highest academic honor, the Apollo Award, has opened my eyes to opportunities that greater than I ever could have imagined. It has allowed me to trust in myself, and not just believe, but know that I destined for great things in this world. Throughout this process, I have to learned to appreciate this journey so much more, but I have also learned I must ask for help when it is needed. I promise you that I did everything I could to do this on my own and I have fallen short every time. It hurts, but I have also learned that we ask for help not because we are weak, but because we want to remain strong. And I am not going down without a fight.
I have set a goal of raising and saving just $1000 to take with me to Melbourne. I believe I can live in someone's rented room for a couple of months to survive until my federal work study income kicks in to continue to pay rent somewhere. Until I receive my financial award letter from the school, I believe I may have enough for tuition and books, but I am not a hundred percent that is the case just yet. Since this school is on the other coast Florida, I need to have money in order to live over there while I attend. There is no fighting that.
I have made some serious life changes in the last month to ensure that I am the most employable that I can be. Some of you know what I am talking about. I have also applied to two NASA internships for the Summer and one at Toyota. A full-time internship position will most definitely pay the most money in the shortest amount of time. Everyday, I comb the employment sites to search for work that can help assist me to saving this amount of money, but time can fly quicker than we would like sometimes. It is unfortunate but true, so as a realist, I am extending my hand out to you to help me get to where I know I belong while I continue my job search. I want to say that when I do finally accomplish my short and long-term goals of attending and graduating this school, that I will be immediately looking back to help return the favor to anyone and anything that has believed in me along the way.
This is not an easy thing to do, but I am here asking you or anyone reading this, if you would like to offer a helping financial hand to my dreams and aspirations, please know that you will live on in me and be apart of something much larger than we all can imagine. Thank you so much for taking the time to read and hear my story. I hope that all of us have a chance to live the lives we dreamed about when we were kids. I will be 30 years old this July, still chasing a childhood dream. And I've never been more proud of the person I have grown to be. Education keeps us young, and a strong, determined mentally will last a lifetime. We all deserve to be happy in this world, as this is the only life we have. Live your life the best possible way you can, and truly feel that good things are supposed to happen to us. Believe that, and we will all live a prosperous life. Thank you for your time.
Organizer
Ted Martin
Organizer
Hudson, FL
