Scholarship recipient might not get to use it

PALMER — As you’d imagine, Jasmine Masferrer, 18, was pretty excited to win a $2,000 scholarship from the Alaska State Fair.

She won the scholarship with an essay on homelessness, and she spoke from personal experience.

“I was probably about five or six months into being 16 when I left my mom’s house,” she said. “It’s been hard, but I got through it.”

She graduated in the spring from Burchell High School — still homeless, but trying to better herself.

And while winning a scholarship was great, it’s far from what she needs to go to cosmetology school. She said she spent what would have been her senior year mostly working.

“I was trying to work and get money together,” she said.

But after paying her living expenses, there wasn’t a lot left. The school she wants to attend has an apartment for her with cheap rent — $400 a month. And if she can just get that much, plus a security deposit together she can get her feet under her and maybe sort out a student loan. Banks want her to have a cosigner, but with no adults in her life that will be tricky, too.

But she’s got a pretty tight deadline — she needs that rent and deposit by Tuesday.

Michelle Overstreet with MYHouse — the group trying to set up a youth home for homeless kids in the Valley — is trying to help Masferrer overcome these obstacles.

“We’re really excited about her having a chance,” Overstreet said.

She decided to help Masferrer after meeting her and being struck by how well she has her act together.

“I’m just totally blown away by a lot of these kids,” Overstreet said. “The stuff that I was doing at that age never crosses their minds because they’re worried about where they’re going to sleep and what they’re going to eat.”

The organization is working to put a PayPal button on its website, but might not have that set up in time to meet Jasmine’s deadline.

Folks who want to help can contact the organization through Facebook or bring donations to Trinity Lutheran Church in Palmer or St. David’s Episcopal Church in Wasilla.

“They just have to make a note that it’s for Jasmine,” she said.

Masferrer said she has big plans for her future if she can swing paying for cosmetology school.

She wants to open her own salon and then start helping her siblings.

“If they haven’t gotten out of foster care by then I can take them,” she said. “By the time I get on my feet and get school done and graduated and get my own salon together I’ll be able to take them.”

Contact reporter Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com or 352-2270.