Spending the majority of her childhood in and out of the foster care system due to her parents drug dependency issues, Kayla Daniels made a conscious decision at age 14 to focus on a future without her parents.  In particular, she dedicated herself to her ultimate goal of obtaining a college degree.  The statistics were not in Kayla’s favor as of the 10 percent of national foster youth who do attend college, only 3 percent graduate.  Kayla credits much of her own personal success to the Guardian Scholars Program, which provides scholarships and an academic and social support system to former foster youth attending college.  While the program originated in Southern California, SFSU created their chapter in 2005.  Thus far, 83 percent of those who participate in the program will graduate.  This year, Kayla and 10 others graduated from SFSU, becoming the largest class to graduate from the program yet!  As SFCASA works on expanding our program to support non-minor dependents, we are excited to hear success stories like Kayla’s and connect our CASA youth to these tremendous support resources.  SFCASA congratulates Kayla and her fellow SFSU 2012 Guardian Scholars Graduates!  For more information about the Guardian Scholars Program and Kayla’s story, click here.

Thanks to her enrollment in the Guardian Scholars program, Jessie Peterson, a former foster youth, is doing well as a student at San Francisco State University. The Guardian Scholars program provides housing and on-campus mentors to former foster youth, helping them to secure financial aid, internships and access to mental health services. Enrollment guides help the Guardian Scholars to pick their classes through special priority registration. In addition to this professional support, Guardian Scholars benefit from getting to know each other and sharing their stories. “For the first time in my life, I felt normal,” Peterson said. “Other people in the program were just as worried if they were ready for college.” To read more about Jessie and other Guardian Scholars, click here.