Taylor Swift makes a donation to London schoolgirl

American singer Taylor Swift has contributed more than £23,000 (SGD41,000) to a London schoolgirl to go to university. 18-year-old Vitoria Mario won a spot to study mathematics at Britain’s University of Warwick but she is unable to support herself. The girl contacted hundreds of companies for help. Mario even posted notes through the letter boxes of homes in affluent areas. In her desperation, she turned to online crowdfunding and Swift contacted her.

“Vitoria, I came across your story online and am so inspired by your drive and dedication to turning your dreams into reality,” the pop star wrote after donating £23,373.

“I want to gift you the rest of your goal amount. Good luck with everything you do! Love, Taylor.”

The pop singer did not publicise the donation but her official Twitter account liked a tweet about the story posted by one of Mario’s buddies. Mario said the donation “blew my mind”, telling BBC television: “I call it a blessing.” Based on her GoFundMe page, Mario relocated to London four years ago from Portugal and she did not speak English. The student scored top marks in all her exams.

Mario set herself a target of raising £40,000 for university accommodation and living costs over four years — which she has now exceeded.

“Sadly, my father has passed away, and my mother remains in Portugal. Moving away from her was a challenge but it was a sacrifice worth being made, in my family’s eyes,” she wrote.

Based on American media, Swift has formerly made impromptu donations to fans. Since the coronavirus pandemic, she has sent a box of merchandise to a nurse in Utah and helped support workers at a shuttered Nashville record store.

Born on December 13, 1989 as Taylor Alison Swift, Swift is an American singer-songwriter. Her narrative songwriting usually focuses on her personal life and has received widespread media coverage. Swift was born in West Reading, Pennsylvania and she moved to Nashville, Tennessee in 2004 to pursue a career in country music. When she was 14, Swift was the youngest artist signed by the Sony/ATV Music publishing house.

At 15, she signed her first record deal. Swift’s 2006 eponymous debut studio album was the longest-charting album of the 2000s on the Billboard 200. Its third single, “Our Song“, made her the youngest person to single-handedly write and perform a number-one song on the Billboard Country Airplay chart.

Swift’s breakthrough second studio album, Fearless (2008), won four Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year, and was certified Diamond by the Recording Industry Association of America. It yielded the crossover hit singles “Love Story” and “You Belong with Me“.