Croydon-born rapper and grime artist Stormzy has helped a Tulse Hill student’s dreams of studying in America come true after donating £9,000 to a campaign to crowdfund her Harvard University master’s degree.
It took less than a day for Oxford student Fiona Asiedu to reach her £12,000 target after the grime artist gave a huge chunk of the cash needed to fund her studies.
The total cost of her education at the Ivy League university is estimated to be £59,000.
Ms Asiedu had secured most of this through scholarships and contributions from her family but was still left with more than a fifth of the amount to source.
Ms Asiedu posted on Twitter to thank everyone who donated to her campaign, named #SW2Harvard after the postcode where she grew up.
Couldn’t say what I needed to in 140 words so please read below. Thank you from the bottom of my heart ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ pic.twitter.com/MAX0P1Cene
— #SW2Harvard (@FionaJ_A) May 15, 2017
Ms Asiedu will start the course in human development and psychology this August following the completion of her undergraduate degree.
After the overwhelming response to the campaign, Ms Asiedu said she intends to use money raised above the original target to help support black British students from low income families who aim to study at either Oxford or Harvard.
SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT 🔊🔊🔊🔊🔊https://t.co/v0dLwbYE53#SW2Harvard pic.twitter.com/XCJzHOKcqT
— #SW2Harvard (@FionaJ_A) May 15, 2017
As for Stormzy, the only public acknowledgement he has made of the donation is to agree to a Nando’s lunch courtesy of one of Ms Asiedu’s grateful friends.
@Stormzy1 let me take you Nando’s for a thank you chicken because this is all you 😭😭😭😭😭 #SW2Harvard
— w/ a dab of ranch (@StephGump) May 15, 2017
