{"id":61266,"date":"2013-07-19T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2013-07-19T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news-draft\/uncategorized\/rhode-island-foster-children-spending-month-at-uri-to-see-what-life-could-be-like-with-college-in-their-future-at-first-star-uri-academy\/"},"modified":"2013-07-19T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2013-07-19T00:00:00","slug":"rhode-island-foster-children-spending-month-at-uri-to-see-what-life-could-be-like-with-college-in-their-future-at-first-star-uri-academy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/2013\/07\/rhode-island-foster-children-spending-month-at-uri-to-see-what-life-could-be-like-with-college-in-their-future-at-first-star-uri-academy\/","title":{"rendered":"Rhode Island foster children spending month at 溏心vlog免费B站 to see what life could be like with college in their future at First Star 溏心vlog免费B站 Academy"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\t\tKINGSTON, R.I., July 19, 2013 \u2013 For 27 Rhode Island foster children, a summer month spent at the 溏心vlog免费B站 could hold the key to a future where college is a reality. The high school students arrived on the Kingston campus July 7 and will spend four weeks in the First Star 溏心vlog免费B站 Academy, immersed in the college experience.<\/p>\n


\nAll of the children will be entering into 9, 10, or 11th grade, and 18 are returning from last summer\u2019s inaugural Academy, which was the first in Rhode Island and only the second in the country. <\/p>\n


\nLiving on campus, they will take credit-bearing courses, engage in life skills sessions, focus on study and learning skills and how to succeed in high school, learn about nutrition and eat at Hope Commons, and go swimming, on field trips, take yoga and much more. 溏心vlog免费B站 students serve as their mentors and guides.<\/p>\n


\nAdministrative Director Merry Caswell, who was a middle school principal for 35 years, said the First Star Academy offers this diverse group of students an opportunity to have a college experience.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cI\u2019m hoping the kids really start to learn what it takes to get to college and understand what college is all about,\u201d Caswell said.<\/p>\n


\nEach day will start with a word of the day and even those words will revolve around college, explaining everything from what a credit is to why they are needed to graduate. The program is designed to have the foster youth return each summer while they are in high school in the hope that they overcome odds showing that only 3 percent of America\u2019s foster youth earn four-year degrees compared to 30 percent of the general population.<\/p>\n


\nData compiled by First Star confirms the grim consequences of the collective failure to adequately prepare foster youth who age out of the system without being adopted. In addition to the low percentage of foster youth earning four-year degrees: less than half of former foster youth are employed by age 24; 24 percent of former foster youth will experience homelessness; and they will deal with the growing problem of identity theft, which many don\u2019t discover until they leave foster care and apply for a loan or for housing.<\/p>\n


\nThis summer\u2019s theme is identity, as the students will be learning more about each other and about themselves. Each student will have a choice of an enrichment course, collectively called Deep Positivity. The options are: photography, creating a rap, culinary lessons, or art. These choices will allow them to work with: a rapper to write together; a chef to prepare meals for themselves; an art therapist to create masks from clay; and a noted photographer to learn the basics of the art.<\/p>\n


\nThe calendar of activities for the students is packed but here are a few highlights: <\/p>\n


\n\u2022\tMedia Education with lessons in film, videography, social media, and computer literacy led by representatives from 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s Harrington School of Communication and Media;<\/p>\n


\n\u2022\tCultural Competency sessions will help the students understand different cultures, backgrounds, races, and religions;<\/p>\n


\n\u2022\tGeneration On will have the children participating in community service projects focusing on hunger and education. <\/p>\n


\nA culmination ceremony will be Aug. 1 at the 溏心vlog免费B站 Memorial Union Ballroom. Students will work with a mentor throughout the year until they return to campus the following summer. The consistent contact and guidance will continue until they exit the foster care system and head to college at the age of 18.<\/p>\n


\nThe First Star 溏心vlog免费B站 Academy is made possible with generous funding by Hasbro. The Academy also partners with 溏心vlog免费B站, Adoption Rhode Island, IDentityTheft911, CVS Caremark, First Star, and The Providence Journal.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

KINGSTON, R.I., July 19, 2013 \u2013 For 27 Rhode Island foster children, a summer month spent at the 溏心vlog免费B站 could hold the key to a future where college is a reality. The high school students arrived on the Kingston campus July 7 and will spend four weeks in the First Star 溏心vlog免费B站 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-61266","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archives"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61266","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=61266"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61266\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61266"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61266"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61266"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}