Skylar Hughes, a high school senior in Georgia worked so hard by working at two jobs, doing an internship, working at community services and all of it finally paid off when she was accepted into her dream university – Duke University.
Skylar had dreamt of the day since she was 17 and knew that right when she got her acceptance letter, she wanted to open it at her mom Rasheda’s gr-avesite. In a conversation with Good Morning America, Skylar said growing up, her mother missed out on a lot of things with her, and so she wanted to share the moment with her and said that her mother must be so proud of her.
Hughes had only applied to Duke University, and when she received a mail from the Durham, North Carolina, school, she took her laptop to her mom’s gra-vesite along with dad James Huges and then opened the mail.
When she finally opened it 20 minutes later, she finally knew she had been accepted into Duke University’s class of 2025. She got emotional and said that it felt great when all her hard work finally paid off.
James and Skylar said that at that moment they felt Rasheda’s presence. She had leave this world after suf–ring from a brain ane-urysm. Skylar said, now the issue is about affording high fees in private universities where the annual fees would run up to $80,000. Even with the financial aid, the family is expected to contribute about $60,000.
James said that he is willing to do anything to make sure that his daughter gets into her dream university.
Skylar is continuing to work at two-part time jobs, and her cousins also set up a GoFundMe page where they were able to collect about $46,000 to help Skylar attend Duke University.
Skylar has opted for the marine science program to become a marine biology researcher and help find cures for medical conditions like the one that took her mother away from her. Skylar said that she wanted to show people that she is more than her circumstances and thanked her father and other relatives who push her to do better each day. Skylar’s teacher Arianne Belzer said that she(Skylar) is a very confident person and that she is proud of her.