UC Berkeley Hope Scholars program is celebrating 20 years of providing holistic support to students who have experienced foster care or childhood homelessness. The program offers vital services like mentorship, emergency financial assistance, and access to a financial adviser and mental health clinician. A new UC Berkeley News article shines a light on this important campus program, and features Geography Ph.D. student Alexis Wood. Wood, who entered foster care at age 10 and previously struggled with the transition to college and dropped out, now serves as a peer advisor to demystify the advanced-degree process and make graduate school feel like an attainable goal for current Hope Scholars. Her research in Geography focuses on secessionist state movements, and how participants incorporate heightened levels of climate anxiety with existing feelings of rural marginalization in the physical and digital landscapes.
Read the article here!