For those who have donated to the Fostering Education Scholarship Fund, take a moment to celebrate what your generosity has achieved! This scholarship makes it possible for students who have aged out of the foster care system to pursue their dreams through education.
“Thank you so much for the scholarship. It really helped me focus on my study instead of worrying about the payment of textbooks. I really appreciate it. Below is an introduction about myself. My name is Thinh Nguyen. As an 11 year old in Vietnam in 2015, I never imagined I would be studying in Georgia State University in 2023. When I first came to the United States seven years ago in 2016, I lived in San Jose, California. I had a hard time understanding what the teacher said in class and doing my homework, this resulted in my grades being terrible. I remember at that time I had to use a dictionary and Google Translate to do my classwork and homework. After living in California for one year, my mom passed away from end stage lung cancer and my step father lost his job. My step father said he can’t take care of us by himself so he decided to let us live with his older sister in Dallas, Texas. Therefore we had to move from California to Texas. During the second year in the United States my English got a little better than my first year in California. I could do my homework without google translate as much and all of my grades at school were not as bad as the first year. I got the Bulldog award at Royse City Middle School, that is my first award in the United States.
My step dad bought a chicken farm in Georgia and he moved us from Texas to Georgia in the summer of 2018. After the summer, he drove us to a Georgia DFCS office and turned us in saying that he could not take care of us anymore. My third year of school in the United States, I was a freshman at Lovejoy High School in Clayton county and in a new foster home. I felt left behind, depressed and didn’t want to study. At that time at Lovejoy High, I had passed almost all my classes except for Algebra 1. In 2019, about one year later, my brother and I moved to Duluth, Georgia, to be adopted. I became a student at Duluth High School during my sophomore year. My grades were not too good during the first 2 month of school. After 2 months, thanks to the help of my teachers, friends and family, I was achieving all A’s and B’s for all of my classes and was accepted to Georgia State University. My plan is to get a CIS degree in 4 years and found a job in IT. Thus I can be more financially independent and be able to help other foster children. I would like to give back by mentoring foster youth in the future. I want to make a difference for foster youths.
After living in the United States for 7 years and what I have been through, I learned a lot about resilience, adaptability, and acceptance. These experiences were very hard but at the same time, they will help me tremendously in the future. I have a compassion for people that is learned through experiences. Thank you so much for the scholarship. I really appreciate it.” – THINH NGUYEN – FOSTERING EDUCATION SCHOLARSHIP FUND RECIPIENT 2022, 2023, 2024
If you want to help us award more scholarships, you can donate here!
