Tamara Vest's story deeply resonates with me. Both her father and my mother died of cancer. School was an escape for both of us. Her journey started at age 16, and I started college at the University of Kentucky in 1989 when I was 16 years old. Within a year of college, I experienced homelessness, and ended up finding my first home at the UK Wesley Foundation, a Methodist dorm that was willing to stay open over the holiday breaks.
Tamara's story and the fact that UK chose her as a graduation speaker illustrates that universities and colleges have opportunities to support the retention of students that need it most, and that doing so reflects incredibly well on them as an institution.
Outcomes can be improved when higher education institutions chose to support students without family support. For me, UK admissions counselor Randy Mills was a lifeline to my future. For Tamara, it was Kalea Benner, associate dean for the college of social work.
We who are helped will choose to give back, and definitely want to do so in order to improve outcomes for our brothers and sisters. During her time in college, Vest became chairwoman of Voices of the Commonwealth, a group of former and current Kentucky foster youth who advocate for foster youth in part by telling their own stories.
Outcomes can be improved when higher education institutions chose to support students without family support. For me, UK admissions counselor Randy Mills was a lifeline to my future. For Tamara, it was Kalea Benner, associate dean for the college of social work.
We who are helped will choose to give back, and definitely want to do so in order to improve outcomes for our brothers and sisters. During her time in college, Vest became chairwoman of Voices of the Commonwealth, a group of former and current Kentucky foster youth who advocate for foster youth in part by telling their own stories.
Vest’s advocacy helped pass Senate Bill 115 — a tuition waiver for state higher education for Kentucky foster and adopted youth.
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