On a sunny spring day this past May in the clock tower courtyard of the Santa Monica school that he would soon transfer from Cornel Engineering student Jonah Okike-Hepzibah spoke to me about being a young man who once desired to make the gadgets that he saw in movies. “It’s going to be really corny but as a kid I always wanted to be an inventor” says Hephzibah, who this week raised more than $20,000 for college via a crowd-funding campaign.

“As a kid I was always into technology” Hephzibah said in our May interview, but due to life circumstances Hephzibah considered making money for his family an entirely different way.

“I wanted to go into computer science but the financial situation that my family had gotten themselves into kinda threw me off of that path and so I wanted to seek other ways to make money and so I wanted to go to the NBA. That’s what I thought at the time.”

The account started by Cornel student Jonah Hephizibah to raise tuition is up to more than $20,000 in donations.

Hephzibah ultimately changed his mind, committing to education as his chosen path. This past May was awarded a $40,000 academic scholarship that seemed to bring his dreams that much closer to being a reality. However, about 8 days ago Hephzibah, born in London and raised in southern California, learned a hard lesson about the inner workings of the financial aid system when he found out that his scholarship money, which he’d thought would be available all at once to pay for the costs of this semester was in fact going to be paid out in two parts leaving Hephzibah with a $14,000 deficit on his Ivy league university tuition. In response Hephzibah started a crowd funding campaign on GoFundMe.com called “Keep Jonah At Cornel”.

“I worked really hard to get here, I can’t leave now!” starts Hephzibah’s statement on his crowd-funding page. Hephzibah then goes on to describe the misunderstanding that led to his current financial hardship as well as the hard work that he has done in order to make it to Cornel. He closed his letter by thanking those who have assisted the first-generation immigrant and talking about his plans for life after school. “I want to accomplish my educational goals and give back by designing innovations such as prosthetic limbs for veterans” states Hephzibah on his page.

The former president of SMC: Dr. Tsang (far left), me, SMC alumnus Andrew Hem, and the current president of SMC Jeff Shimizu.

The response to Hephzibah’s plea was swift and overwhelming resulting in the raising of more than $22,000 from some 700 plus donors most of which was raised in the first two days ahead of the university’s Friday deadline.

“I am in awe and so humbled by the outpouring of support and encouragement I’ve received in the past 24 hours. I never imagined anything like this was possible” Hephzibah posted. The response was so great that Hephzibah is now extending his campaign goal to $28,000 promising to update donors on his financial status and to help other students in need with any excess funds that he receives from the campaign.

Hephzibah, the oldest of five siblings expressed in May that he understood that the road ahead would be tough but said that he expects to succeed as long as he stays focused and was prepared to seek out assistance when needed. “Definitely build a community of people” Hephzibah said, “Reach out and ask for help.” That day Hephzibah was referring to those within the Santa Monica College community back home. Today, that community appears to be global and, at least for now, that community has helped to further this young achievers college journey.