FAIRMONT— An academic program at Fairmont State University that is the only one of its kind in the nation now has a new dean of the same.
Emily Swain will lead Fairmont State’s Middle College program for youth in foster care wishing to pursue higher education.
It’s open to students between the ages of 16 and 18.
“Middle College is a program unlike any other, which required immense collaboration, perseverance and vision,” the inaugural dean said.
Swain, a Fairmont State elementary education graduate, was in the human services business before her appointment.
She focused on efforts to provide affordable housing for vulnerable populations during her work with the Fairmont Community Development Partnership.
In her role as community impact director of the Tygart Valley United Way, she was a key administrator in that organization’s response to the pandemic.
Swain holds a master’s in higher education administration from WVU, and is currently pursuing a doctorate in educational leadership from Southern Arkansas University, with a concentration in rural and diverse educational leadership.
“Emily brings a deep commitment to student success and community development,” Fairmont State’s provost Dianna Phillips said.
“That makes her the perfect leader for Middle College.”
It will also make her very busy.
Up in the morning and (maybe) off to school
Right now, depending upon which agency is doing the counting, there are around 6,000 children and teens in foster care in West Virginia, according to numbers culled by the state Department of Health and other sources.
And this is in a place that only has a total population of 1.7 million people, give or take.
Compare those numbers to, say, Oregon, which charts 4,800 kids tended to by foster parents, among its more than 5 million residents.
Appalachia differs socially and economically from the Pacific Northwest, but there is a commonality that makes the whole thing, well, academic.
Or not.
That’s because here, there and everywhere, foster kids just don’t go on to college.
Well, they do — but just in numbers that are miniscule compared to their peers who come from more-stable environments at home.
The National Youth Foster Institute notes that only around 4% of young people coming out of foster care (and high school) will make to college for completion of a four-year degree.
And the college-going rate for students from that community pursuing two-year courses of study clocks in around 2% to 6%, the institute further notes.
Class system
Fairmont State is partnering with KVC West Virginia, a nonprofit child welfare agency and mental health treatment provider for the Middle College model.
Qualifying students will live in a supervised residence hall, while taking courses to earn both their high school diploma, and a two-year college degree, at the same time.
The program was set accept 50 students this fall — and while there’s no cost to attend, there is a caveat, said Sarah Marshall, a KVC West Virginia coordinator who is helping manage the operation.
That is, students have to simply want to go, she said. Truly.
“Young people in foster care are resilient,” she said. “We’re looking for students who are highly motivated and enthused about this opportunity for their education.”
The program is also designed to help students recoup academic losses resulting from spotty attendance in school — if they’ve shuffled from multiple foster homes during their experience in the system, Marshall said.
That’s a lot of untapped potential, Fairmont State President Mike Davis said previously, for a population that wants both stability and opportunity.
And forget about the college-going rate for fosters, for the moment.
Many of them are lucky to even get out of high school.
Nationally, only about 50% of foster kids graduate — and every year in the U.S. about 20,000 of them or so simply age out of the system.
They’re kicked loose, with little education or vocational training, into a workforce world where jobs are scarce and competition is fierce.
Some empowerment is in order, Davis said.
“Fairmont State will provide transformational opportunities to a vulnerable, but deserving, population,” the president said, “and unleash the vast potential of these students.”
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