- April 26, 2024
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Flagler Palm Coast High School junior Iyonna Robinson hopes to have a career in business. She has been selected to attend the National Youth Leadership Forum: Business Innovation this summer at either the University of California, Berkeley, or Yale University.
A year ago, she was fighting for her life after suffering serious injuries from a frightening car accident on Belle Terre Parkway. On Jan. 13, 2023, Robinson and two other FPC girls basketball players were turning left onto Pine Grove Drive from a southbound lane on Belle Terre when they were T-boned by a car heading north.
Robinson, who was sitting in the front passenger seat, took the brunt of the impact. She was airlifted to Wolfson Children’s Hospital in Jacksonville with a broken pelvis and femur. She underwent four surgeries. The most recent was in October, when she was to have an implant in her pelvis removed, but she suffered a ruptured vein and almost bled out, her mother, Dayonna Robinson, said.
Iyonna has since recovered and is active and healthy, her mother said. She received the invitation to the business leadership forum after taking her SATs, Dayonna Robinson said.
Iyonna and her mom set up a GoFundMe page to try to raise as much as $5,000 to pay for tuition, room, materials and other costs. The $5,000 doesn’t include her flight or food during the eight-day program at either of the college campuses. Her preference is to attend the program at Berkeley.
She said she works at Walmart and her parents, family and friends are helping pay expenses.
“I am beyond excited about this opportunity because a year ago I was in the ICU battling my life from a car accident! Nearly died TWICE…BUT GOD!” she wrote on the GoFundMe page. “This opportunity will give me a chance to expand my skills needed for college and future milestones … I will be attending seminars, actual campus business classes, startup simulations, etc.”
Iyonna was in a wheelchair for a month after the accident and underwent therapy three times a week for three months, her mother said. Dayonna Robinson said the leadership forum is an amazing opportunity.
“It’s definitely a blessing, especially after last year,” she said. “We’re blessed she was able to emotionally overcome everything she’s gone through.”
If you'd like to donate, go to https://www.gofundme.com/f/national-youth-leadership-forum-berkeley?
