Program goals
- Create transitions that lead to success in college and career for Western Michigan University students from foster care ages 18 to 25 years old.
- Develop a community of scholars among WMU students who have aged out of foster care, and create a safe community to deconstruct and reconstruct identity.
- Educate WMU students from foster care and their support network to enhance their professional skill set.
- Transform WMU students from foster care by integrating experiences from students’ past to build opportunities for their future.
Outcomes
The Seita Scholars Program is part of a larger initiative to change the college going paradigm of youth in the foster care system. Currently, only 2 percent to 4 percent of youth from the foster care system will earn a college degree (Casey Family programs, 2010). By the end of summer 2014, the Seita Scholars Program will have over 100 graduates, and graduation rates far above the national average.
In addition to graduating at rates above the national average, Seita Scholars are participating in a wide array of skill building activities on and off campus. Scholars have:
- Made the Dean’s List in colleges across campus.
- Studied abroad in a variety of countries including Italy, Spain, Australia, and Argentina.
- Served as assistants in the residence halls on campus.
- Participated in club and varsity sports.
- Held leadership positions in student organizations across campus.
- Spoken at conferences across the nation and advocated for youth in foster care.
Take a moment and browse through the Seita Scholars annual report for more highlights from 2015-16.
Seita Scholars Extended Support Program
This year the Seita Scholars Program has worked to further assist students who are on the campus of Western Michigan University and are youth of foster care, but are not recipients of the Seita Scholars Scholarship. To learn more about the services provided through the Seita Scholar Extended Support Program, please check out our flyer.