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SF High School Senior Creates Crowdfunding Campaign To Pay For Summer School

SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) -- The internet is good at turning dreams into realities thanks to a milieu of crowdfunding campaigns -- so good that one man's quest to raise $10 for making potato salad exploded into $50,000 of support on Kickstarter.com.

So one can assume their chances of raising money for charity work, a start-up business, or say, school tuition would be equally, if not more successful.

That's the thought behind one high school senior who was accepted into a prestigious college academy for the summer, but has a large financial hurdle to overcome.

"People spend money on the silliest things today," Royale Privitte, a student at San Francisco's Lick-Wilmerding High School said after he heard about the potato salad campaign. "I barely need a fraction of that to make my educational dream come true. Why not [contribute] to an actual good cause?"

Privitte, 17, requested financial aid from the Stanford Summer College Academy  -- a competitive program that accepts 100 students from across the world every year -- but his application was denied. That's when he and his dad decided to take the crowdfunding route to raise the $7,600 it costs to attend.

"I'd really love to go to this program because it would be an amazing educational experience," Privitte said on his GoFundMe.com campaign page, who is about $1,000 away from making his goal. "I would be learning about the judiciary system and attorneys in a hands-on classroom. This experience would be so groundbreaking for me it's incredible. It could truly put me on the right path to becoming a successful lawyer. This would be fulfilling one of my biggest dreams."

Privitte said if this campaign exceeds his goal and he raises more than he needs, he'll use the excess money to set-up a non-profit organization aimed at educational opportunities for other children.

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