Doing some mom bragging and begging
Take a look at this picture.
This is P. when she was about 2 1/2. It is one of my absolutely favorite pictures of her. We had gone with the H-S Family and the P. Family to see the tall ships which had come into the Kenosha Harbor. We had a lovely day of touring the ships, having a picnic, and enjoying the company of each other. Well, except when I was changing D.'s diapers or trying to find a comfortable place to nurse him. D. was only a month or so old. I do remember wondering at times why I thought that outing was a good idea. But I did end up with this picture of P. on one of the tall ships.
Now this child is nearly all grown up and will be graduating from high school. When you have a graduation coming up, the all-consuming question becomes, "What are you going to do next?" For P., this was not an obvious answer. She wasn't sure college right away was what she wanted, but she didn't quite know what the other options were. And then she found a program out of Canada called Class Afloat. Essentially, it is a gap year program where ~60 students help to crew a three-masted ship, sail around the world, and take classes at the same time. This was what P. wanted to do it turns out.
She has been working for several months now to get everything ready to apply to the program. She needed a pretty extensive swim test, medical exam, transcript, and interviews as part of the application process. With very little help from her parents, she sorted out how to do all of these things and got them done. I was extremely proud of her diligence and effort.
Earlier this week, we received an email that she was accepted into the program. I am thrilled. I am thrilled even if one year the ship sank. (All the students and crew made it onto life boats and survived. But still... ) And I am proud of her.
I wish I could just say: And so she'll leave on ____ for her new adventure. I'm afraid things are a little more complicated than that. It seems that American financial aid does not cross borders. Go figure. This makes the rather high price tag for the program far more difficult to manage. It also means that somehow she needs to come up with a staggering figure to secure her spot in the next month. J. and I can help a little bit, but we just cannot manage the whole thing.
P. has done a couple of things in light of this. First, she has decided that going for one semester instead of two makes for good financial sense. It's not quite half the cost, but it is less. Second, she has spent nearly every waking moment (when she is not mucking stalls to earn money) looking for scholarships to apply for. She's found quite a few, including one which required her to read The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand, and write an essay on it. (That's dedication to the cause.) Even if she was to receive the scholarships she has applied for, she still would not have the money she needs next month. So, she has created a Go Fund Me page.
Here's the begging part of the post. Would you be willing to look at her page and donate a little something to help her along? If everyone donated just a little bit, it would all add up to quite a lot. If you just cannot send anything, then please, please share her page. I want this so badly for her, and it kills me just a little bit that I cannot make it happen. I would so appreciate any help you can offer.
Phoebe Curry Go Fund Me Page
Now this child is nearly all grown up and will be graduating from high school. When you have a graduation coming up, the all-consuming question becomes, "What are you going to do next?" For P., this was not an obvious answer. She wasn't sure college right away was what she wanted, but she didn't quite know what the other options were. And then she found a program out of Canada called Class Afloat. Essentially, it is a gap year program where ~60 students help to crew a three-masted ship, sail around the world, and take classes at the same time. This was what P. wanted to do it turns out.
She has been working for several months now to get everything ready to apply to the program. She needed a pretty extensive swim test, medical exam, transcript, and interviews as part of the application process. With very little help from her parents, she sorted out how to do all of these things and got them done. I was extremely proud of her diligence and effort.
Earlier this week, we received an email that she was accepted into the program. I am thrilled. I am thrilled even if one year the ship sank. (All the students and crew made it onto life boats and survived. But still... ) And I am proud of her.
I wish I could just say: And so she'll leave on ____ for her new adventure. I'm afraid things are a little more complicated than that. It seems that American financial aid does not cross borders. Go figure. This makes the rather high price tag for the program far more difficult to manage. It also means that somehow she needs to come up with a staggering figure to secure her spot in the next month. J. and I can help a little bit, but we just cannot manage the whole thing.
P. has done a couple of things in light of this. First, she has decided that going for one semester instead of two makes for good financial sense. It's not quite half the cost, but it is less. Second, she has spent nearly every waking moment (when she is not mucking stalls to earn money) looking for scholarships to apply for. She's found quite a few, including one which required her to read The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand, and write an essay on it. (That's dedication to the cause.) Even if she was to receive the scholarships she has applied for, she still would not have the money she needs next month. So, she has created a Go Fund Me page.
Here's the begging part of the post. Would you be willing to look at her page and donate a little something to help her along? If everyone donated just a little bit, it would all add up to quite a lot. If you just cannot send anything, then please, please share her page. I want this so badly for her, and it kills me just a little bit that I cannot make it happen. I would so appreciate any help you can offer.
Phoebe Curry Go Fund Me Page
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