A high school student from Texas will her dreams of going to Barnard College come true thanks to the kindness of thousands of strangers.
Alondra Carmona is currently a senior at Yes Prep East End in Houston, and she turned to GoFundMe to tell her story and ask for some help when she needed it.
“My dreams came true on December 14th when I was accepted into the Ivy League women’s institution, Barnard College,” she wrote. “I have worked tirelessly to look for programs and opportunities that my small school could not provide. This motivation led me to attend a 6 week research internship for cervical cancer at Rice University. While at Rice, I found that I wanted to pursue an M.D./PhD. This secured my thoughts of studying under STEM and research.
“All of the programs I attended were a product of my enthusiasm for learning more about medicine and science. I come from a single parent household and my mom worked everyday to pay rent,” she added. “In February of 2020, my mom broke her ankle and was not able to work. Come March, the coronavirus started which added to the financial problems we already had. Today, I found out that my mom has not had a job for 3 months and hid it from us. She owes two months of rent and will most likely get evicted in March.”
“All of my college savings will go to paying the rent that we are behind on. As much as I dream of going to Barnard College, it is not looking promising right now,” Alondra concluded. “I am turning to this as a last resort because Barnard will not be able to change my financial aid package. I am absolutely in love with Barnard and it has been my dream since I was 15 years old. Thank you for your time. Anything helps :)”
Much to Alondra’s surprise, she managed to raise over $167,000 in just a few days!
“College is hard enough without worrying about mom’s rent on top,” one of her donors commented. “All the best to you with your studies.”
Alondra said afterwards that she is “tremendously grateful” for the generosity of over 4,000 donors.
“You have all made my dream come true!” she said.
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