Please help me pay for The Army and Navy Academy

Hi, my name is RJ. I'm 14yrs old and I'm in 8th grade. I live with my aunt and uncle (Ethan & Lindsay) in California and have been since the summer of 2021. Since I was two, I've gone back and forth from living with my mom to living with them at least 4 times. Each time has lasted between 12-18mths.

When I lived with my mom, things were harder than usual. I was in and out of school a lot and I ended up missing a lot of days. By the time I got to my aunt & uncle's house this last time, I was 2-3 grade levels behind where I should be in all subjects.

I homeschooled for the 2021-2022 school season and by the time the 2022 school season rolled around I was back on track to start 8th grade at Vail Ranch Middle School in Temecula, CA. The sudden change of environment going from my Mom's house in Michigan to my aunt and uncle's house in California, switching to a homeschool environment and then having to make up so much school work was hard. Really Hard. But I did it!

Unfortunately, when I started going back to school again, with more freedom/less oversight from my aunt/uncle since they weren't homeschooling me anymore, I slacked off a bit and had a pretty bad 1st progress report. That was an awakening for me, or should I say my uncle awakened me to the fact that I needed to change my ways. I'm happy to report that as we head into the Christmas break, I have all A's and B's and am in good standing with my teachers.

As I've mentioned, things have been hard. Not just with school but in my relationship with my aunt & uncle and my cousins who are a lot younger than me. My aunt & uncle are hard on me. I've called my uncle "Buddy" for as long as I can remember and every time I've come to live with him and my aunt, they call it "Buddy Bootcamp". They have high expectations for me and drive me to be the best I can be. Having a growth mindset is something we talk about quite often. These are hard lessons to learn and I know I'm not quite there yet but I believe that attending this school, will help me get there.

The school is expensive though and I was accepted to enroll in mid-January.. All the financial aid has already been awarded so my aunt and uncle would have to pay for the full amount before I start classes which is roughly $30,000. Luckily, once I'm enrolled, I will have a better chance to get some aid for next year but this go fund me page is to help ease the burden for Ethan & Lindsay.

I can't possibly repay any donation that you make but I can commit to writing letters to anyone that does help out at least once per month with updates of how my life is going at this school. Who doesn't like handwritten letters?

I'd like to leave you with a portion of the letter I wrote to the Academy as part of my application process. I know my mom will read this. I hope that she knows I love her very much and always will. These are very difficult things to write about but this is part of my story and I have to tell it.

My name is Randal Brown (aka RJ) and I currently live in California with my aunt and uncle. I used to live with my mom but things didn't work out there. My mom was doing things that she was not supposed to do. The house was always dirty and there would be so many flies that they would cover the whole ceiling. The washer and dryer never worked so we always had a boatload of dirty clothes and we didn't always have enough food to eat so we had to call people and ask for help.I also had six siblings to deal with and take care of when she needed me to babysit which would be for countless hours. It was very hard to babysit six kids, one time my mom was gone and I had to watch the kids. Some of them were in the house and some were outside but when it was time to come in I couldn’t find my sister and I searched everywhere until I finally found her walking alone a few blocks from our house. That was a very scary moment in my life. I also missed so much school that by the end of the school year I had missed over a month of school and the school held me back. I was devastated and argued with my mom and she got so upset with me that she sent me to live with my uncle. I got on a plane and flew from Michigan to California. This was not my first time living with my uncle. A few years before that I lived with him in California and in Iowa. So when I got to California I homeschooled for my whole 7th-grade year. I also took up some new passions such as soccer and theater. I played in Les Miserables and Grease and every morning I would go outside and practice soccer for at least an hour. After my 7th grade year, I went to public school. After a few weeks in public school, my parents started to see a change in my behavior and they told me that I needed to fix it quickly. I did the opposite. I kept doing what I wanted to do before doing what I needed to do and I was lying every time I would get in trouble. At that point, my uncle didn't know what to do with me, until he found out about the Army and Navy Academy. He told me about it and at first, I didn't want to go but then I found out more information about the school and decided that this was the best option for me. There are a few activities that I would like to do at Army and Navy Academy such as soccer and drama. Those sound fun and I'm very interested in the shows you perform there. I chose Army and Navy Academy because I want to go to this school because it will provide once in a lifetime opportunities for me.

If I'm able to get into the Academy after my years there I will go on to help others that have similar backgrounds to me. I will try to help my mom and my siblings with food, water and a roof over their heads.

I want to go to the Army and Navy Academy because it teaches young men discipline and structure. It also prepares young men for the world outside of school. This school will provide me with things that I need that I probably won't be able to get anywhere else such as discipline, self-awareness and brotherhood. Those are things that I need In life and the Army and Navy Academy can provide those things. That’s why I'm so passionate about going to Army and Navy Academy because it can build me into an amazing young man and teach me things that I will need for the real world. I can see myself 1 year out of high school going to the Academy then going to college and getting a bachelor’s degree that will help me get a future job. Learning writing and mythology because I'm into both of those things. I would really love to get accepted into the Academy. Take care.