Payton Porter – 2020 SNF Scholarship Award Recipient

Sponsored by API Project Fitness

High School Attended: Ryan High School

College: Texas Women’s University

Major: Nursing

Teens working to save up money for college on their own is hard enough. Add caring for a 5-month-old baby to the mix, and it’s easy to see how the SasserNation Foundation Scholarship could immensely help Payton Porter.

Payton has been working since she was 16 to save up and pay for college. Now, at age 17, that money also goes toward caring for her infant daughter as a single parent. To make matters even more desperate, she was furloughed due to the coronavirus pandemic. But none of these obstacles are stopping Payton from wanting to go to college now.

According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, fewer than 2 percent of teen moms graduate from college by age 30. Stats like this are the reason why Payton doesn’t want to delay her college education. In fact, she wants the opposite. She hopes to start college classes in the summer to get ahead of the curve. She’s determined to be part of that 2 percent.

It’s how she returned to play varsity soccer for Ryan High School after giving birth to her daughter, Zola.

While $500 from SNF may not seem like a lot to some, it could pay for 15 cans of baby formula or two hours of tuition for classes at Texas Woman’s University, where she hopes to major in nursing. It may seem like a hard road, but Payton is no stranger to hard work. As an athlete, grit and determination are ingrained in her. It’s how she returned to play varsity soccer for Ryan High School after giving birth to her daughter, Zola. Her experiences with nurses during her pregnancy and injuries during her athletic career are what led her to pursue a degree in health sciences. Earning a college degree will give Payton and Zola a chance at a more stable life and a rewarding job.

For Payton, obstacles are just something put in your way so you can prove how determined you are to get to the other side. But with the SNF Scholarship, that obstacle is just a little smaller.