Hi, my name is Jaeana Bethea and I’m a sophomore at Oberlin College in Oberlin, OH. I am originally from New Haven, CT and I aspire to become a public defender. On campus, I am the Queer Liaison for the Black Student Union and a Bonner Scholar. The Bonner Scholars Program is a scholarship program available to students that demonstrate a commitment to community service, leadership, and advocacy in their college application. I am expected to provide 140 hours of community service per semester and 280 hours during the summer. I volunteered at Oberlin Community Services as a pantry attendant, intending to combat food insecurity in Lorain County. This summer I was a Shapen Fellow with Howard Brown Healthcare, creating useful resources for queer youth. Hi! My name is Mia Knox and I’m also a sophomore at Oberlin College of Oberlin, OH. I am originally from the west side of Chicago, and it is my dream to be a teacher. On campus, I am highly involved in the Oberlin community. As a freshman, I was the first year Liaison for the Black Student Union, was on the board for Bipoc Lenses, a student-led magazine, and worked at our school’s Center for student success. I am also a Posse Scholar. Posse is an organization that gives leadership and merit-based full-tuition scholarships to driven yet underfunded high school seniors. I, as well as 9 other seniors from all throughout Chicago, went through various interview processes to obtain this scholarship, and after receiving pre-collegiate guidance, we came to Oberlin together in the fall of 2024. After reading our introductions you might be wondering: Why do you both need money if you are already receiving some through scholarships? The answer to that is simple but also extremely complex. It’s possible that most of you have never heard of Oberlin until right now. We were exactly the same. Oberlin is a private liberal arts school, with a small acceptance rate. In fact, it is a hidden ivy, which means that it is lesser known than schools like Harvard and Yale, but it is just as prestigious and academically rigorous. Considering people like us aren’t given the same access and opportunity as our counterparts to attend, the fact that we didn’t know what it was isn’t surprising. To put it plainly, we love our school, but most of our peers have the luxury of attending Oberlin without fear of financial strain; we don’t. Even with these amazing scholarships that we both worked hard to receive, it still isn’t enough to afford basic housing, meal plans and books. As you have read, we have worked both on and off campus to try and combat the cost of attending our school, but it simply isn’t enough. We both have full-time jobs and are desperately applying for outside scholarships, but the costs are simply too high. We are first-generation students from low-income families that grew up in inner cities, trying to acquire an education that can be used to better the financial situations of ourselves and our families. Our parents are helping us as much as they can, but we carry most of the financial burden. With that being said, we know that there is nothing wrong with community college, but to work so hard for such a rare opportunity like this only to have to give it up because we can’t afford it would be devastating. According to educationdata.org, Black students are 33.8% more likely to drop out than the average college student. We don’t want to be a part of that statistic. We want to stay at the college we earned a spot in, which won’t be possible without your support. Our first payment is due on July 22, but there are more payments due every month, so anything at any time would help, thank you.
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