Guillermo's High School Fees
Donation protected
Hi,
My name is Guillermo Camarillo. I am currently a high school senior at George Westinghouse College Prep. I live in Chicago, IL. I am the middle child of three brothers and the son of two undocumented parents. I grew up in Little Village, a low-income predominantly Hispanic neighborhood in the West Side of Chicago. Throughout my whole academic career I have strived for the best. At a young age, I promised myself and my family that I would attend of the country's best universitys. It was a big dream for a low-income minority student. My parents, not knowing how to speak English and not having gone to high school, did not have the academic capabilities to help me with my school work. It was always up to me to work hard and to find a way to understand or learn things. Luckily, my perseverance helped me become successful. I was one of the highest performing students in grammar school. I was valedictorian of my eighth grade graduating class. In high school, I was able to work myself up to being the top ranked student of my class. I have held this position for the last three years (I have been ranked #1 since freshman year). I have had a perfect GPA since freshman year. My current unweighted GPA is 4.0 and my weighted GPA is 5.09. Up to this date, I have taken 6 AP courses, passing all my exams with a 3 or higher (I scored a 5 on three AP exams, which is the highest possible score). This year I am taking 5 AP courses including rigorous courses like AP Chemistry, AP Psychology, and AP Stats. I have also participated in a variety of programs. I participated in my school's math team (Freshman year to Junior Year), volleyball team (Sophomore year and Junior year), National Honor Society, Chicago Scholars (community-based organization), and been a part of Northwestern Memorial's Northwestern Medicine Scholars internship (medical internship over the summer). I have been recognized and have recieved awards such as MVP (volleyball), AP Scholar Awards(Granted to students who receive scores of 3 or higher on three or more AP Exams),
AP Scholar with Distinction (Granted to students who receive an average score of at least 3.5 on all AP Exams taken, and scores of 3 or higher on five or more of these exams), Honor Roll award, Principal's award, Illinois State Scholar, and many other awards. I recieved the Questbridge College Prep Scholarship, a national and competitive scholarship, my Junior year, which helped me fund my Kaplan courses and helped me get grants to visit schools. I also applied to three fly-in scholarships and recieved all three; The three schools that gave me these fly-in scholarships were Williams College, Columbia University in New York, and Rice University. I was also a semi-finalist for the Posse Scholarship, and a Finalist for the Questbridge Scholarship. I am proud to say that I got matched with Stanford University through Questbridge, which means that I am admitted and will be attending Stanford University with a full-ride (this scholarship is worth over a quarter of a million dollars). Now that I have told you a "brief" story of my background, I am going to get to why I created a gofundme page. This past year has been extremely difficult for my family. My parents, being undocumented immigrants, have had many financial strains. This past summer I took the initiative to get a job to try to help my parents and try to pay my school fees. However, the course load of five AP courses and the overwhelming amount of college applications made it difficult for me to handle everything. The stress was starting to become detrimental to my emotional and physical well-being, so I decided to quit my job. Unfortunately, a few weeks ago, my father was detained by immigration. My family had to pay an outstanding bail of $3,000 to have my father released. On top of this, my family now has to pay for a lawyer to look into both my father and mother's case so neither of them will be deported. My family's situation makes me worry if I am going to be able to pay for my high school fees. I have accumulated an outstanding debt of $1,200 in debt (this is including graduation fees). Most of these fees are from AP classes and extracurriculars. Being jobless and still having a heavy course load in school, I know I will not be able to get a job that will pay enough to be able to pay off this debt. I thought I would never have to be in a position where my school debt could possibly hinder me from graduating and attending an institution like Stanford. With this, I humbly ask if you may please donate to help me pay my school fees. Every single dollar counts! I am really looking forward to graduating and being able to attend events like prom and luncheon! If any of you have any questions please ask them. I will try to respond as soon as I can. I am also willing to provide evidence of all my academic achievements. Thanks Guys!
*Note: the amount I want to raise is a little higher because of the AP class fees I have to pay for this school year*
-Guillermo Camarillo
My name is Guillermo Camarillo. I am currently a high school senior at George Westinghouse College Prep. I live in Chicago, IL. I am the middle child of three brothers and the son of two undocumented parents. I grew up in Little Village, a low-income predominantly Hispanic neighborhood in the West Side of Chicago. Throughout my whole academic career I have strived for the best. At a young age, I promised myself and my family that I would attend of the country's best universitys. It was a big dream for a low-income minority student. My parents, not knowing how to speak English and not having gone to high school, did not have the academic capabilities to help me with my school work. It was always up to me to work hard and to find a way to understand or learn things. Luckily, my perseverance helped me become successful. I was one of the highest performing students in grammar school. I was valedictorian of my eighth grade graduating class. In high school, I was able to work myself up to being the top ranked student of my class. I have held this position for the last three years (I have been ranked #1 since freshman year). I have had a perfect GPA since freshman year. My current unweighted GPA is 4.0 and my weighted GPA is 5.09. Up to this date, I have taken 6 AP courses, passing all my exams with a 3 or higher (I scored a 5 on three AP exams, which is the highest possible score). This year I am taking 5 AP courses including rigorous courses like AP Chemistry, AP Psychology, and AP Stats. I have also participated in a variety of programs. I participated in my school's math team (Freshman year to Junior Year), volleyball team (Sophomore year and Junior year), National Honor Society, Chicago Scholars (community-based organization), and been a part of Northwestern Memorial's Northwestern Medicine Scholars internship (medical internship over the summer). I have been recognized and have recieved awards such as MVP (volleyball), AP Scholar Awards(Granted to students who receive scores of 3 or higher on three or more AP Exams),
AP Scholar with Distinction (Granted to students who receive an average score of at least 3.5 on all AP Exams taken, and scores of 3 or higher on five or more of these exams), Honor Roll award, Principal's award, Illinois State Scholar, and many other awards. I recieved the Questbridge College Prep Scholarship, a national and competitive scholarship, my Junior year, which helped me fund my Kaplan courses and helped me get grants to visit schools. I also applied to three fly-in scholarships and recieved all three; The three schools that gave me these fly-in scholarships were Williams College, Columbia University in New York, and Rice University. I was also a semi-finalist for the Posse Scholarship, and a Finalist for the Questbridge Scholarship. I am proud to say that I got matched with Stanford University through Questbridge, which means that I am admitted and will be attending Stanford University with a full-ride (this scholarship is worth over a quarter of a million dollars). Now that I have told you a "brief" story of my background, I am going to get to why I created a gofundme page. This past year has been extremely difficult for my family. My parents, being undocumented immigrants, have had many financial strains. This past summer I took the initiative to get a job to try to help my parents and try to pay my school fees. However, the course load of five AP courses and the overwhelming amount of college applications made it difficult for me to handle everything. The stress was starting to become detrimental to my emotional and physical well-being, so I decided to quit my job. Unfortunately, a few weeks ago, my father was detained by immigration. My family had to pay an outstanding bail of $3,000 to have my father released. On top of this, my family now has to pay for a lawyer to look into both my father and mother's case so neither of them will be deported. My family's situation makes me worry if I am going to be able to pay for my high school fees. I have accumulated an outstanding debt of $1,200 in debt (this is including graduation fees). Most of these fees are from AP classes and extracurriculars. Being jobless and still having a heavy course load in school, I know I will not be able to get a job that will pay enough to be able to pay off this debt. I thought I would never have to be in a position where my school debt could possibly hinder me from graduating and attending an institution like Stanford. With this, I humbly ask if you may please donate to help me pay my school fees. Every single dollar counts! I am really looking forward to graduating and being able to attend events like prom and luncheon! If any of you have any questions please ask them. I will try to respond as soon as I can. I am also willing to provide evidence of all my academic achievements. Thanks Guys!
*Note: the amount I want to raise is a little higher because of the AP class fees I have to pay for this school year*
-Guillermo Camarillo
Organizer
Guillermo Camarillo
Organizer
Chicago, IL