A trio of James L. Moore III (JLM) Scholars who were once part of the state's foster care system have beaten long odds and are on track to graduate this May with degrees from The Ohio State University.
All three young women--Dernise Mixon, Sabrina Niezgoda, and Asia Woodhouse-King--landed at Ohio State after completing two-year associate degrees at Columbus State Community College. They represent only the tiniest fraction of the roughly 400,000 children nationwide in the foster care system at any given moment.
Now on the cusp of graduating, the trio is on pace to join an exclusive group representing the three percent of former foster care youth who graduate from a four-year college, according to statistics compiled by the Nation Foster Youth Institute.
And while their stories are all different--Mixon was placed with her paternal grandmother in kinship care while Woodhouse-King eventually was reunited with her family and Niezgoda was adopted for a time--all three said they developed a steely resolve they have leaned on to reach for their dreams.
"I had to be very resilient," said Mixon, an Akron native headed towards a social work degree. "I didn't have a choice to give up; that's how I've always felt. I had to be more responsible and quick on my feet." For Woodhouse-King, the bottom line has been persistence. "I never give up. Whatever my goals are, I keep trying, I don't give up on any of my goals," said the psychology major originally from New Jersey. "Since I was a kid I always wanted to learn. I always wanted to go to school, I was always curious."
Niezgoda agreed that being in foster care forced her to grow up faster than her peers. "Sometimes it wasn't for the best. You know you miss out on your childhood," said the pre-med neuroscience major who grew up in a small town outside of Toledo. "But drawing positivity out of it, I just have a persistence that my peers don't have. I like to joke with my peers and say I'm truly American-made."
The trio also all said that their chosen majors have been shaped by their life experiences within the system." I knew I wanted to help people, but I didn't know how I could advocate for communities that I want to work with," said Mixon who chose social work over a pre-law pathway. "I want to fix the flaws in the system. My life's purpose is to help other people through the things that I've been through."
For Niezgoda, her interest in studying medicine was sparked after seeing one of her adopted brothers struggle with cerebral palsy. "The brother I was closest with had a movement disorder," she said. "Now I'm really interested in the molecular and cellular side because of that. Also on the cognitive side of neuroscience, I think it's really interesting to see how we work as individuals."
Meanwhile, Woodhouse-King said she wanted to understand more deeply why her parents had mistreated her and her five siblings. "I think that the real reason that I pursued psychology was because I wanted to better understand what was going on around me," she said. "To understand why the people around me acted the way that they did and treated me the way that they did."
While their experiences have shaped them in ways they are still grappling with, Niezgoda said it's important that former foster care youth not let others define--or define themselves--from those experiences. "It's very important for people not to see us through a trauma lens," she said. "We're humans. See us for who we are, not what we've had to overcome."
All three students credit a few important personal mentors and programs such as the JLM3 Scholars Program, and Columbus State's Scholar Network for helping them down the path to graduation. "I don't think I would be where I am today without these programs and being in these spaces," said Mixon.
Chaka Wilson, the program manager for JLM Scholars Program, which supports Columbus State students transferring into the Columbus campus with a focus on study skills, leadership skill building, and professional development, said she first became familiar with this former foster care population while working at Columbus State. "What sets these students apart from their peers with similar backgrounds is their internal perseverance. Once we identify they have the drive in them, we do all we can to help nurture it," Wilson said. "This is a rare group of students we have here because not only are they on track to graduate--but if you looked at their grades--they are really excelling."