Inspiring Success Stories
There wouldn't be any of these inspiring stories without the eye-opening conundrum stories that All Out For Change® seeks to solve. Helping them move along on their journey toward a degree, a fulfilling profession and upward mobility with a little more ease and less debt is important to us. Donations make their uphill climb less burdensome.
“Hey MaryAnn! This is JaQuari and I just wanted to thank you again for providing me with the last amount of funds for the spring semester! I was able to get honor roll after having a shaky first semester!” JaQuari, DCI class of 2022 & scholarship recipient at George Mason University.
Anthony D. Anderson, our Supplemental Scholarship Awardee since 2017, Keeps Soaring Higher
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July 2023, his gift, passion, and supporters take him to Bavaria
Anthony reached his fundraising goal for expenses to travel overseas for the first time to attend a prestigious opera program in Bavaria, MTB, Musik Theater Bavaria, Oberaudorf. Learn more, watch the Fox News segment. Anthony writes, "I am truly grateful for your generosity and support…Your support will not only help me to pursue my passion and allow me to grow and learn from some of the best opera professionals in the world but it would be my first time ever traveling outside of the United States!” |
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Watch Anthony’s Performance on August 18, 2022 at our Celebration of Achievements through excellence in education & student supplemental support; he performs with Michael Crabill, Anthony's mentor/coach/pianist since his high school days at Duke Ellington School of the Arts.
May 2022 Anthony accepts a scholarship offer for graduate studies at the University of Maryland, Opera Studio. March 2022 Anthony announced..." the Des Moines Metro Opera company offered me a position in their Young Artist Apprenticeship program this summer. Des Moines is a renowned and highly revered company in the opera world and I cannot contest that this is an amazing opportunity..." |
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Watch the NBC4 Washington Interview that Followed Anthony's Outstanding Performance in September 2021. News4's Darcy Spencer reports on the highs and lows of his journey. We hope all beneficiaries of All Out For Change® awards continue to excel and share in the same good fortune on their journey as Anthony has; while senior at Oberlin he was chosen by Cantate as their first Young Artist of Color. With this honor he received mentoring, career guidance and professional networking support. Also, watch his WUSA9 Interview. Congrats, Anthony!!!
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Summer 2021 Oberlin Opera Theater presents "EMPEROR NORTON". We’re excited about Anthony’s progress as a scholarship student at Oberlin Conservatory, who has received 2 grants from All Out for Change® since 2017. Watch his performance.
Followup Fall 2020 with Anthony: We reached out to Anthony to see if he needed additional support. And, yes: in order to perform better in school he needed an iPad. With the iPad he produced his solo opera fall 2020 semester project and posted it on YouTube: A House Is Not A Home.
Several generous supporters contributed toward the Supplemental Scholarship Award to cover the iPad. It’s hard to conceive of how much a tool like that means for him today, and his future. Mitch, our Mac wizard, says, “it’s like giving an instrument to a musician”; and he added it enables Anthony to further develop technical skills that will be of great value for a talented vocalist.
Several generous supporters contributed toward the Supplemental Scholarship Award to cover the iPad. It’s hard to conceive of how much a tool like that means for him today, and his future. Mitch, our Mac wizard, says, “it’s like giving an instrument to a musician”; and he added it enables Anthony to further develop technical skills that will be of great value for a talented vocalist.
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Anthony reported, “The iPad was my main tool in filming "A House is Not a Home" and learning how to use the iMovie software. It stood its own in holding space for all the video material whilst making sure that the videos were of magnificent quality! … I'm so glad that I was able to begin learning these skills and incorporating them into my work during such a time of uncertainty.”
Listen to his September 2020 recording of 'Deep River', accompanied by pianist, Thomas Bandy. |
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Anthony, recipient of our first 2017 College Access Grant: Get the picture, Our first grant recipient’s inspiring story and Today Show segment illustrate how potential is mined when embraced by a nonprofit program and strangers who “get the picture”, care, and contribute funds to achieve aspirations."I’m blessed," Anthony remarked, when we first met. And that, he is: with talent for opera, his voice; acceptance into an extraordinary nonprofit program from 6th through 12th grades and into a public magnet school for the arts where his gift was nurtured. The only crucial thing missing? The Money… to pay off first-term college debt and release his transcripts to apply to, audition at and visit universities and music conservatories… in hopes of receiving a generous scholarship.
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He’s very lucky his situation was published in the newspaper. Watch the Today Show segment about his struggles he faced in pursuit of his dream and how his luck turns things around.
After reading about Anthony's predicament, he became our first College Access grant recipient. He used the All Out for Change® grant for applications and travel expenses for colleges visits, interviews, and auditions. In May 2018 Anthony shared the scholarship outcomes and his decision: he accepted a full ride scholarship to Oberlin Conservatory of Music. With gratitude for all the support he received on his journey over the years he remarked, “It really does take a village!” |
Skylar, DC International Charter School Grad 2021, Partial Scholarship Recipient
Donations assist full and partial-scholarship recipients with the myriad of essentials their wealthier peers’ families can afford, such as laptops, transportation to and from college, clothes for job interviews, meals, dorm and school supplies, and scholarship tuition gaps that prevent registration if not paid. Most students, like Skylar, receive partial scholarships; so they and their families face mounting student loan debt. Since freshman semester 2021, she has applied her Supplemental Scholarship award toward her tuition gap. We hope that we can assist her and others with more funds for tuition gaps, room & board going forward.
Donations assist full and partial-scholarship recipients with the myriad of essentials their wealthier peers’ families can afford, such as laptops, transportation to and from college, clothes for job interviews, meals, dorm and school supplies, and scholarship tuition gaps that prevent registration if not paid. Most students, like Skylar, receive partial scholarships; so they and their families face mounting student loan debt. Since freshman semester 2021, she has applied her Supplemental Scholarship award toward her tuition gap. We hope that we can assist her and others with more funds for tuition gaps, room & board going forward.
June 2021
Thanks to those who donated during our spring 2021 fundraiser, we can all enjoy the big smile on Skylar’s face, with her gift card for college related expenses, her MacAir and Supplemental Scholarship award letter. "Thank you!! Sincerely, Skylar Smith, 12th Grade, 2021."
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Photo: Jamie Sandel
“At Emory & Henry College, I'm majoring in Animal Science & Equestrian Studies en route to becoming a Veterinarian."
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Read about some eye-opening student conundrums that All Out for Change® supporters help to solve.
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