OSU College for a Day is designed to provide foster care youth, ages 14+, with firsthand experiences on a college campus. The day includes:

• A Higher Education Scavenger Hunt
• Youth reporting out and sharing their goals for the future
• A Residence Hall Tour
• Youth sharing their talents (art, music and comedy)
• An engaging and wonderful speaker, Dr. Micky Sharma
• A Student Panel that includes foster care alumni
• Hands-on networking
• Opportunity to play sports at the R-PAC

We began reaching out to OSU representatives back in 2015, and seeking to partner with them to improve post-secondary outcomes for foster youth.

Between April 2015 and May 2017, we facilitated four OSU College for the Day events. Here is a link to photos from our very first event, and the flyer from our most recent one.

Previous youth who participated in this event  reported that, when they left, they were better informed about admissions, financial aid, and campus housing.  They were also excited to participate in focus groups to share their questions and insights.

We are very grateful to our partners in this endeavor, including:

• Buckeyes for Adoption and Foster Care
• COVA
• OSU CHEE (Center for Higher Education Enterprise)
• OSU DICE (Diversity, Intercultural and Community Engagement)
• OSU College of Education and Human Ecology
• OSU College of Social Work
• Franklin County Children Services
• Village Network Columbus
• Dr. Micky Sharma of OSU’s Office of Student Life’s Counseling and Consultation Service