By Cynthia Hubert

August 21, 2024

As a former foster child, President Luke Wood deeply understands the challenges young people who have spent time in the system face. Few make it to college, and even fewer have the resources to succeed.

Shortly after his tenure as Sac State president began last year, Wood decided to help ease their burdens.

That effort culminated this week in the grand opening of a space dedicated to the Guardian Scholars Program, which serves students who have experienced foster care or homelessness.

Located in Sacramento Hall, the same building that houses the President and his administration, the space features areas for GSP students to relax, socialize and study; big screen televisions; comfortable furniture; and a supply closet stocked with food, clothing and toiletries.

• View more photos from the event in our gallery.

Students also can get help accessing housing, mental health and other services.

“It’s like moving from a studio into a mansion,” GSP student Blaire Nelson said of the program’s transition from cramped quarters inside Lassen Hall.

Nelson is looking forward to a quiet place to unwind between classes and a pantry where she can access “things that I need without having to ask for them,” she said.

“Sometimes it’s hard for students to ask for these things.”

The new space will make a big difference for the 170 Guardian Scholars enrolled this fall, said Linda Ram, the University’s director of Foster and Community Youth Initiatives.

“We now have the space and the bandwidth to provide services that we were not able to provide before,” Ram said.

More than 23,000 teenagers age out of the U.S. foster care system each year, according to the National Foster Youth Institute. Only about 3% to 4% earn a college degree.

Last year, 36 Guardian Scholars graduated from the University.

“We want to have the largest group of foster youth in the Cal State system,” Wood said at the grand opening event on Tuesday. “Now we have a proper home for our Guardian Scholars.”

Wood, joined at the event by family members including his foster and adoptive mother, said he considers foster youth “my brothers and sisters.”

“We are giving them an environment that provides them with the hope and dignity that they deserve,” he said.