As a little girl, my daughter Evangeline Marvin was diagnosed with Selective Mutism, a condition where children are frightened to speak in specific settings. Growing up, Evangeline was introverted and shy even in her home with her own family. We often wondered if she fell within the autism spectrum as her older and only brother is autistic and non-verbal, but this was not the case. As time passed, she increasingly suffered in social settings, to the point that fear overwhelmingly took over her being. By the grace of God, she developed an interest in art. She began creating her unique sense of style and design. Through art, Evangeline blossomed and opened by communicating and slowly fending off her fears. As she continued to open up and face her phobia, Evangeline began working with her older brother in an attempt to make him feel comfortable with his non-verbal autism. She understood how terrifying it felt to be unable to communicate and share with others. By helping her brother, her courage and confidence to express herself also grew. It wasn’t until the sixth grade that Evangeline’s art teacher noticed her aptitude in the Arts and brought it to our attention. The administration encouraged and helped us select a few magnet schools whose curricula were the right fit to transition into a high school focusing on the arts. During middle school, Evangeline worked hard on her studies and sketches, knowing this was her ticket to getting into a preferred magnet high school. In her quest to find and apply to the high school of her choice, she attended numerous auditions with several schools displaying her talented artwork. Her determination and hard work paid off, and Evangeline secured acceptance from Florida at Design and Architecture Senior High School (DASH), a top school for the arts. Throughout high school at DASH, she flourished and centered her interests in fashion design, receiving several accolades, including Miami Fashion Institute Innovation Challenge, Scholastics Art & Fashion, Coconut Grove Women’s Art Foundation, and Coconut Grove Young Artist Gallery, plus multiple honorable mentions by the Miami Design District. As a designer, Evangeline showcased her designs in many Miami fashion shows, including OMEGA, Upcycled, and Coalescence. What continued to spark interest was designing clothes for disabled people, for which she received a Scholastics award. Additionally, a strong desire to create affordable clothing for those less fortunate led her to redesign thrift store clothing, which granted her an award at the Upcycle Fashion Show event. Additionally, she trained at the prestigious Parsons in New York for a month by invitation only. During high school, she made friends with others and was supportive and friendly, often comforting shy, introverted students. She would express to us over and over again her dreams about having her own unique fashion business inspired by Alexander McQueen‘s designs as her designs are very similar. Her fashion teacher told us that this is the perfect thing that’s happened to her that she was being accepted and selected because of her accomplishment through her unique and extraordinary design, the reason why her portfolio always stood out. One of the reasons why FIT in NY selected her. Today Evangeline communicates beautifully and expresses herself eloquently with her voice and through her unique fashion designs. We are very proud of her. She dreams of becoming a famous fashion designer one day and, through her talent, dresses the world from every culture, race, gender, and disability. She aims to make everyone feel comfortable, self-secure, and beautiful, wearing her designs with a touch of glamour. Always ahead of her time with a pure innocent soul Evangeline lend a helping hand to her designer colleagues when they reached out for help at any given time, she never turned anyone down even if it meant sacrificing her tight schedule. Evangeline realized the opportunities ahead of her and she seized every single one of them. She took it upon herself to work very hard, long hours and lost lots of sleep to achieve straight A’s from the beginning to the end of her High School Senior Year. She was awarded the principal honors award for the entire year. One of three top students at the school because of her commitment to achieving her goals of being able to go to one of the top design fashion schools in the world FIT. We cannot let this end here due to financial reasons out of her control. Evangeline recently graduated from Design and Architecture Senior High School in Miami, Florida. Her goal is to attend the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) College in New York City, where she's been accepted. However, after applying for FASA, financial assistance, and being awarded Federal Pell Grant she still falls short $15,000 and your donations will help supplement tuition fees, college materials, and living expenses. Admissions to the Fashion Institute of Technology is selective. After all her hard work and effort, it would be a shame not to take this opportunity, especially when she received the acceptance letter from FIT on June 28th, 2024 to begin this coming Fall semester. The FIT offer is also better than anything offered locally. Her goal is to achieve a two-year Associate's Degree in Fashion Design AAS. Evangeline's dream is almost coming to fruition; however, help is still needed. I am the only working parent in my household. My husband is unemployed and disabled due to congenital heart disease and cervical spine disease, among other health conditions. Additionally, therapies for Evangeline’s older brother have been exhausting and have taken a toll. I humbly request your assistance in helping Evangeline reach her dreams of attending FIT. Any monetary aid you can provide through this platform is greatly appreciated.
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