Events
Community Partners Honor and Support Foster Youth Achievement
RALEIGH, N.C. (August 12, 2014) - Wake Tech leaders, corporate benefactors, and individual contributors came together tonight at a banquet to celebrate the success of young adults formerly in foster care. The event, held at the Capital City Club in Raleigh, honored students in the Fostering Bright Futures program as they prepare to start college at Wake Tech next week. The program is a public-private partnership designed to provide assistance and support to teenagers as they “age out” of the foster care system. It provides tutoring, mentoring, financial aid, and supplies to help these students attend college, earn a degree, and beat the odds.
“I know the challenges you have faced,” said Dr. Stephen Scott, President of Wake Tech, “and I hope this program will open doors and create opportunities you have never imagined. I encourage you to take advantage of all that Wake Tech has to offer.”
Representatives from Lenovo presented laptops to each of the six new students in the program. Rosemary King, President of the Sigma Tau Omega chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha, presented a $1,000 scholarship to student Harmonie Cole; and for the third year in a row, graduate Iris Perry received the Chairman’s Award for her hard work, exemplary attitude, and impressive grade point average. All of the students received commemorative pins at the banquet, and spoke about the importance of Fostering Bright Futures in their lives. Graduate Monica Armstrong, who has received a full scholarship to pursue a bachelor’s degree at NC Central University this fall, said, “Words cannot express how grateful I am for Fostering Bright Futures. I know I will always have their support.”
NCCU Chancellor Debra Saunders-White said she was inspired by the students and their stories: “I want to thank the Fostering Bright Futures Board and the corporate sponsors for supporting this program. We can’t allow anyone to be left behind.”
Fostering Bright Futures started in 2009 to help former foster youth earn degrees from Wake Tech. Statistics show that the odds are against these young adults: Nationwide, less than 10 percent of traditional college-aged youth emerging from foster care enroll in post-secondary education, and only 2 percent actually graduate.
