For the upcom­ing fall semes­ter, Ferris insti­tuted a new pro­gram known as the Ferris Orphan and Foster Youth Initiative (FOFYI).

The program’s goal is to pro­vide oppor­tu­ni­ties for stu­dents who are orphans or who have aged out of fos­ter care. Aging out of fos­ter care myself, I am grate­ful for this oppor­tu­nity that will help other stu­dents in my posi­tion to have a pos­i­tive col­lege experience.

Young adults who are orphans or aging out of fos­ter care that are plan­ning to attend col­lege are in need of all the assis­tance they can receive. In addi­tion, these stu­dents are inde­pen­dent stu­dents, just as I am.

I am also work­ing to put myself through col­lege, but single-handedly pay­ing for my edu­ca­tion as an inde­pen­dent stu­dent is not an easy task to accomplish.

When I came to col­lege as a fresh­man last year, I was for­tu­nate to have received sev­eral schol­ar­ships from local orga­ni­za­tions, a sum­mer intern­ship, and state assisting-programs, such as T.I.P. (Tuition Incentive Program) and the ETV (Education Training Voucher) from Lutheran Social Services of Michigan.

Aged-out fos­ter care and orphan stu­dents will also need assis­tance with just more than pay­ing for col­lege; they will need a strong sup­port sys­tem emotionally.

I believe this pro­gram will give fos­ter youth/orphan stu­dents a full chance at suc­cess as well as a rea­son to meet their goals.

When I found out about this pro­gram, I was delighted to know that Ferris was reach­ing out to stu­dents like me. The pro­gram is funded through the Office of Diversity and Inclusion. Sally Workman, a Big Rapids res­i­dent, approached President Eisler with the charge that Ferris reach out to young peo­ple who had aged out of fos­ter care.

President Eisler con­sulted David Pilgrim, the Vice President for Diversity and Inclusion, to lead a uni­ver­sity– wide effort to build a pro­gram that tar­geted these prospec­tive students. Pilgrim began work­ing with Leroy Wright, Program Adviser and Dean of Student Life, Rob Wirt, Director of Financial Aid and Charlotte Tetsworth, Assistant Director of Admissions and Records to cre­ate the FOFYI program.

In addi­tion, Jerry Scoby, Vice President for Administration and Finance and Jon Shaffer, Director of Residential Life, had worked to cre­ate 12-month hous­ing options for these students.  

“FOFYI is a col­lab­o­ra­tive effort involv­ing Ferris per­son­nel and com­mu­nity mem­bers, “said Pilgrim.”It is also a pro­gram that would make Mr. Ferris proud.”

Students in the FOFYI pro­gram will be assigned a men­tor, who will be a fac­ulty or staff mem­ber, and meet with them reg­u­larly, as well as their aca­d­e­mic adviser. Other require­ments include resid­ing on the Big Rapids cam­pus full-time, main­tain­ing full-time stu­dent sta­tus, sat­is­fac­tory aca­d­e­mic progress, par­tic­i­pat­ing in non-credit work­shops, aca­d­e­mic men­tor­ing and abide by uni­ver­sity codes for cam­pus living.

Also, there will be men­tor­ing oppor­tu­ni­ties avail­able. I would even­tu­ally like to become a men­tor for this pro­gram to reach out to stu­dents like myself.

I find this to be an amaz­ing oppor­tu­nity and could not be more thank­ful for it to be pre­sented. Students like me have faced numer­ous chal­lenges through­out our lives, and to know that Ferris is reach­ing out to us to help us suc­ceed makes me even more proud to be a Bulldog. n