Amazing news! After working with members of the Oberlin College & Conservatory community and faculty, we have established the Draylen Mason Minority Student Travel Fund. Draylen did not have the opportunity to make a physical journey to visit his prospective school. This is an incredibly vital component when making a life altering decision like choosing a college to call home for the next 4+ years of your life. I know from personal experience that having the opportunity to travel to Oberlin, meet with students, take in the sights and sounds of the campus, and take some trial lessons with the music professors made a world of difference in my journey to Oberlin. It is with this in mind that we hope to create a fund to support other students like Draylen who might not have the means to get out to Oberlin and see it for themselves. The benefits of a smaller scale fund like the DMMSTF is that you can see a direct correlation between your donations and the students you will help get to Oberlin. From plane/bus tickets, gas/mileage, food, lodging, and trial lessons, visiting schools can be a costly endeavor, and it is our hope that together we can help more students of color make the decision to become an Obie! At present we are working to create an official crowdfunding page for the DMMSTF (at which point we will officially consider this petition a success!), but if you don't want to wait for it, you can donate right now! If you open the Oberlin Donation page you will find in the drop down menu an option to give to the "Draylen Mason Travel Fund". https://alumni.oberlin.edu/default.aspx?page=GIVEGiving Every penny goes towards getting a future Draylen Mason to Oberlin, to fall in love with the school, and to take the next step towards becoming an Obie.