Event Details:

Hello, my name is Destiny Meador. I was invited to an event called the Congress of Future Science and Technology Leaders by the National Academy of Future Scientists and Technologists. This organization was founded by Buzz Aldrin to promote and increase the number of people going into the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) fields. It's where for 3 days, kids will have top-ranking leaders in science and technology lecturing and mentoring us on aspects of their lives, careers, and achievements. Some of the people are: Dean Kamen (inventor of the segway), Dennis Crowley (CEO and co-founder of Foursquare), and Jack Andraka (inventor of a breakthrough cancer diagnostic tool). At the end of the event, I can recieve 1 full college credit, which will be a great help for college and my first one to get! (I'm a freshman.) It's hosted in Boston, MA and will be held on June 28th - 30th. I got invited because I'm really interested in the science and technology fields and I also have a high GPA from my straight A's. In order to go to it, I need to pay the tuition of $985 by April 14^th and the travel expenses/college credit expenses by June 22^nd. All of those costs add up to around $2,250. If you want to get a better feel for what the whole program is, you can look at the site: http://www.scitechleaders.com/.

Why I Can't Pay for it Myself:

My parents have been working on converting our home from a seasonal hunting cabin into a house ever since we moved into it 8 years ago. The reconstruction of some parts of our home are required for safety and stability purposes. One of the major projects that we are working on right now is replacing the foundation with concrete footers with new support walls and new main beams which hold up the house - and it is very expensive! My parents have been tied up for money despite both of their salaries - especially last year and this year while working on this particular project. My grandparents can't give me any money because they've had their own recent financial troubles as well.

How I'm Trying to Get Enough Money:

I'm trying to get money from other places as well but those options aren't guaranteed to be viable money sources yet. Right now, I've applied for a scholarship offered by the Congress but I won't know if I will get that scholarship or not until I get a response in a few weeks. Plus that scholarship is only for $500 which isn't enough to cover nearly all of my costs. I also applied to get a mini-grant, also for no more than $500, from our local endowment foundation. Since this is the first time they've been asked for money for this type of event though, they haven't decided whether they'd want to donate money to me or not - but as it does have some college credit available - they might. Even if I get both of those (the mini-grant sounds like a long shot), I'll only have half of my costs covered.

Why I've Come Here:

I think this is an excellent opportunity but if I can't pay the money then... no can do. I know the deadline is a bit tight but I have to try. If this comes through, I'd be forever grateful. Your donations to me will make the difference to let me have this once-in-a-lifetime experience! But, if this does fail and I don't get to go to the program, I'll just invest this money in my college savings.