Ecorse teen accepted in Harvard program needs help to go

A teen from Ecorse has the opportunity of a lifetime. Fifteen-year-old Dominic Woods has a chance to attend Harvard University's CyberMath Academy's 2019 Summer STEM Camp.

"I aspire to do things in my life involving engineering but businesses are also in the line of possibilities," Woods said.

So when Woods received his acceptance letter, the Ecorse Community High School student was excited about what he believes this opportunity could mean for his future. 

"It would open my future; it would open many doors." he said. "This would be great, it would be a large step, that I could take. An opportunity like this is almost once in a lifetime." 

The two-week program which takes place in July provides opportunities in coding, robotics, STEM training and SAT prep.

Woods' excitement was short-lived when he found out the $1,000-dollar scholarship he received would not cover the entire cost of the program, which is between $4,000 and $5,000. 

"That was sad to see, because I saw the opportunity drifting away," Dominic said.

Woods's father works for the Ecorse school district and admits coming up with thousands of extra dollars to send his son to the program would be a challenge for the family. 

"It is a large sum of money," said father Tyrone Woods. "My wife and I, we work. So it is paycheck to paycheck for the most part. So ... for something like this, it makes it challenging."

So this straight-A student set up a GoFundMe account, hoping that whoever hears his story will be willing to support his dream.

"I am hoping to reach the goal or even exceed it, to use for more opportunities such as this one," Dominic said.

Woods says program officials extended his deadline to pay for his fees - but he only has until May 15 to raise the funds. 

"I have raised in total including cash and through GoFundMe, $160," he said. "Education is very important to me."

CLICK HERE to donate to the GoFundMe account