Lisa's Story

Story written by Mission WV Bridge Program Mentor

Names of students changed to protect their identity.

Upon my high school arrival in December of 2021, I received a referral from the school Attendance Director for a young lady who had been in foster care and was currently in truancy trouble. We will call her Lisa. Lisa had been in a total of seven other school districts and was now in the care of her grandmother. Lisa's counselor informed me she was also in credit recovery due to being moved around so much and had not made any progress in the seven classes she was assigned. Our first goal was to get her to come to school, then we would start focusing on credit recovery. I introduced myself and the program to Lisa. She was unsure how she felt about the program but decided to give the program a try.

Lisa and I discussed her attendance and the importance of being at school. I told Lisa I would check on her daily and see if she was present. Sometimes I would just peek in and grin at her, and occasionally I would pull her out of class to tell her how pleased I was to see her that day. One day Lisa asked me, "Why do you care if I'm here?" Her question caught me off guard. That a kid would even ask why someone would care about them blew my mind. I said, "I truly care about you, your high school career, and your future." She responded, "Really?" I told her, "Absolutely!"

From that moment, Lisa and I built a relationship. She started coming to school regularly and making huge progress academically. Lisa did a complete turnaround. She eventually disclosed information to me about her childhood. In those moments, we grew close, and I could understand why she asked me, "Why do you care?"

Lisa is the definition of resilience. This young lady has an incredible story of what she endured and how she overcame it. It makes me emotional when I think about her and what she went through as a child.

With The Bridge Program's help, Lisa completed all seven-recovery classes, finished her senior year with A's and B's, and had a job waiting for her upon graduation. On her graduation night, she hugged me and stated, "I honestly wouldn't be graduating if it wasn't for you and your program caring and supporting me. I wish I could have met you sooner."

---

The Bridge program guides foster care students towards their education goals. We know that when students stay in school, they can envision a positive future. We support 200 students each year on their respective journey with educational advocacy, mentoring, student enrichment, college funding support and post-secondary education planning.

This mentoring relationship has resulted in continuous improvements in their academic performance, specifically attendance, behavior, and grades. Most encouraging is that every high school senior goes on to pursue a post-secondary education plan.