Like many students, I arrived with ambition and uncertainty, shaped by a country already facing deep challenges. What I didn’t yet understand was how essential this community would become to my education and to my ability to persevere. COVID and the insecurity we’ve experienced since brought this truth home. 

In 2020, when scholars were sent home and daily life fractured, solidarity filled in the cracks. Our advisors—one of the many services your support enables—did remarkable work, checking in consistently, reaching out through friends when they couldn’t reach you directly, and finding ways to keep students connected. Over the past few years, they’ve been the glue holding us all together.

That same level of care has continued through years of societal upheaval and uncertainty. Advisors, staff, and peers remained present, creative, and committed. They are the reason so many of us have been able to finish what we started. They are the reason we are not just a scholarship program, but a community.

My role in this community has changed from scholar to fundraiser. In the process, I've come to understand something I couldn’t see as a student: philanthropy is the cornerstone of our program. Philanthropy is like rebuilding after an earthquake. Moving one stone, one obstacle, and placing one brick at a time, where it belongs. Every gift supports not only education, but the formation of civically minded leaders who remain in Haiti like I have, serving our country, and helping build a stronger future from within.