Ellen Kimble doesn’t think small. Upon emancipation from foster care at the age of 18, she took off for Buenos Aires, Argentina for a semester on a scholarship sponsored by the Department of State. When she returned she began her studies at the University of Phoenix on a National Foster Parent Association scholarship to receive of Psychology degree and another NFPA scholarship put her on target for a Master’s degree in Public Administration.
She’s on the Board of Directors for the American Society for Public Administrators in Central Texas and redesigned their website; she has also has volunteered for the Inter-Cooperative Council, a student organization in Austin. This is from a young woman who was in foster care from age 14 to 18 in no less fifteen different homes and twelve different high schools. Even now, Ellen’s focus is on distant travel (she’d like to teach English for a year in South Korea) and on finding ways to use her experience to support her younger peers in foster care.
Despite the difficulties and distractions of life in the foster care system, Ellen’s big thinking and optimism shows through; as she says, “It is important for young people in foster care to improve the system because, despite the circumstances, it can prove to be a advantageous experience that can promote success later in life.”
