Annika, 18 years old, CA | 27 DAYS WAITING

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Annika is a young woman who has spent most of her childhood and adolescence in California’s foster care system. Removed from her home for her own safely at a young age, Annika experienced a series of placements—some stable, others short-lived. Despite the instability, she developed a reputation among foster parents and others as someone with quiet resilience and a fierce determination to survive. Annika has recently aged out of foster care and moved into her first apartment through a transitional housing program. For the first time, she has her own key, her own space, and the ability to make decisions about her everyday life—an exciting but overwhelming shift. As she begins this next part of her journey forward, Annika is now looking for a job and is about to enroll in college. She is the type of young lady who is going to do everything she can to create a good life for herself.

Annika is a foster youth who recently started college, and she is determined to make the most of it. So far, she's done most of her schoolwork on her phone, which makes writing papers, researching, and keeping up with assignments harder than it should be. A laptop would give her a dependable way to do her work and stay on top of her classes, not only this semester but throughout her college career. It would also let her focus on learning instead of working around her tools.