Help Modelande Become A Nana Baby College Graduate

Next month, I will board a plane and begin a journey I have dreamed about for years: leaving to attend college in the mainland United States.

For many young adults, starting college is an exciting next step. For me, it represents something much bigger. It is a chance to begin a new chapter after spending most of my childhood in foster care and approximately seven years growing up at Nana Baby Children’s Home.

At 18 years old, I am officially a Nana Baby graduate, and I am preparing to become a first-generation college student.

My life has not always been easy or predictable. I have experienced instability, separation, and challenges that many young people never have to face. There were times when my future felt uncertain, but I refused to allow my circumstances to decide what my life would become.

I want to build a better life for myself. I want to stop the cycle of hardship, limited opportunities, and instability that I and members of my family have experienced. I want to prove that where I started does not have to determine where I finish.

Despite everything I have faced, I remained focused on my future. I graduated from high school, applied to colleges, completed financial aid applications, pursued grants and scholarships, and worked throughout the summer to save as much money as possible before leaving.

I am not expecting my education to be handed to me. I plan to work while attending school, and I will begin looking for a job as soon as I arrive on campus. I am prepared to do my part, make sacrifices, manage my responsibilities, and work hard for this opportunity.

However, even after financial aid, grants, scholarships, and student loans, I am still facing a significant gap in the cost of tuition and other college expenses. I cannot close that gap alone, which is why I am humbly asking for help.

Any contribution, large or small, will bring me closer to my goal of earning a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology. After completing my undergraduate degree, I hope to earn a master’s degree in Occupational Therapy.

My dream is not simply to leave home. I want to become educated, independent, and professionally successful so that I can create a stable future for myself and eventually help others do the same.

I also dream of returning to the Virgin Islands as a trained professional who can provide much-needed services to children, families, and individuals in my community. I know what it feels like to need support, guidance, stability, and someone who believes in you. One day, I want to be that person for someone else.

Before returning home, however, I want the chance to see and experience the States for the first time. Growing up on a small island, I have often imagined what life beyond St. Thomas might be like. I want to experience a new environment, meet people from different cultures and backgrounds, explore new places, and learn how to navigate the world independently.

Attending college in the States is about more than earning a degree. It is an opportunity to discover who I am outside of everything I have been through. It is a chance to grow, challenge myself, build confidence, and see possibilities that I may not have known existed.

This opportunity could change the direction of my entire life.

I have already overcome circumstances that could have caused me to give up. Instead, I have continued moving forward with courage, hope, and determination. I am willing to work, sacrifice, and fight for my education. I am simply asking for a community of people to stand beside me as I take this life-changing step.

Donations will help cover tuition, housing, books, transportation, school supplies, and other essential college expenses. Even sharing my fundraiser would mean so much to me and could help my story reach someone who is willing to support my journey.

Nana Baby Children’s Home has been my home for approximately seven years. The people there have watched me grow, supported me through difficult moments, celebrated my accomplishments, and loved me like family. Leaving is emotional because I am not simply leaving a children’s home. I am leaving people who have become my family and who consider me their daughter in so many ways.

But I am also stepping into adulthood with a plan, a purpose, and a promise to myself that I will keep moving forward.

My story began in foster care, but that will not be where my story ends.

I want my next chapter to begin in a college classroom and continue until I walk across a graduation stage as a professional, a leader, and an example to every child who needs to believe that their circumstances do not determine their future.

I want young people who come from backgrounds like mine to see that it is possible to break cycles, create new opportunities, and build a life that looks different from the one they were born into.

Please consider donating or sharing my story. Every gift will bring me one step closer to college, graduation, independence, and the future I have worked so hard to create.

Thank you for believing in me and helping me take this next step.