Sedella White, who will be graduating with a second bachelor’s degree from UALR on Dec. 20, values education in a profoundly different way than many of her peers.

Growing up a foster child in central Arkansas, education meant school, the only place where she experienced structure and stability.

“I grew up in a system that was moving,” she said. “I never had consistent friends, but I knew I could go to school, and there would be a set standard, a set curriculum.”

She chose to attend UALR because she wanted a quality education where she could be close to her five siblings, whom she rarely saw while bouncing between multiple placements including group homes, foster homes, and her grandparents’ house.

Proximity to her siblings was very important to White, as this was something completely out of her control while in the foster care system.

“My younger sister and I were very vulnerable to being pulled apart. One of the adoption specialists was very frank with us. She said it would be hard to adopt two black girls together,” White said.

It turned out the adoption specialist was right.

White was separated from all of her siblings for years until she met the couple whom she now calls her parents. The couple brought her younger sister to live with them and made sure the two sisters were able to visit their other brothers and sisters.

A Need to Give Back
For a long time, White and her younger siblings thought things would return to normal. They visited their incarcerated parents on a regular basis. But when her parents were released from prison, the visits ceased. White and her siblings knew things were not going to change.

White said the first time she felt like someone invested in her was during the ninth grade when she was placed with a foster mother who took an interest in her Spanish-speaking skills.

“I told a story at dinner about a wolf,” said White. “She was really intrigued. She was this strong single woman, and she really molded and developed me.”

Her foster mother arranged to have her placed with her grandparents, who had custody of her younger siblings. After her grandfather’s death a short time later, she was moved back into foster care where she met the couple whom she now calls her parents.

“After my grandfather died, I felt I was a burden, and I never like to be in any situation where I don’t feel like I am not helping someone,” she said. She now attributes her strong sense of volunteerism to that time in her life.

During high school, she served on the Arkansas Youth Advisory Board, where she contributed information for a booklet on children in foster care and later served as board president.

She also worked for the National Resource Center for Youth Development, developing other state youth boards, such as in Idaho.

College brought more opportunities to volunteer with UALR Children International, and she also served as a student ambassador for the College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences. Today, White is a youth liaison for the Department of Human Services.

An ‘American Dream’
White received her first degree from UALR in spring 2014 when she graduated with a B.A. in English. She remembered she initially had wanted to major in nursing and minor in English, but thanks to Dr. Laura Barrio-Vilar and Dr. James Levernier, White reconsidered English as a major.

White recalls one class that profoundly affected her during her studies.

“I took Dr. James Levernier’s class that discussed the American Dream. The basis of the class was that it is a myth and that it’s designed to maintain social inequality,” she said.

“If you measure success in terms of wealth, I guess that’s true, but if you measure success in feeling accomplished in what you have set your mind on achieving despite your circumstances, then the American Dream does exist.”

White said that, as a child in foster care, she had to make the best of her situation.

“It wasn’t ideal, but you cannot let something like that determine the rest of your life,” she said.

Recently, she returned to UALR to complete a second degree in Spanish after spending five weeks in Nicaragua through a summer study abroad program guided by Dr. Erin Finzer.

White said the experience made her reflect on her own past as she witnessed extreme poverty in a whole new way there.

White has applied to Teach for America, a national non-profit that recruits recent college graduates to teach in high-need public schools. She hopes to use her experience from the program to guide her in pursuing her master’s degree of public service at UALR Clinton School in the following year.

“My professors have had a big impact on me, and it comes back to the feeling of stability in education. I want to work with underprivileged youth, especially teaching literature. To me, literature is the biggest vehicle for change and the best form of communication,” she said.

White now lives with her three sisters, and all six of the former foster children gather regularly to eat or play games and music. This year, the siblings were able to establish their own family traditions.

Although White admits that at times the constant activity is somewhat like a sorority house, in a gentle way, it reminds her of the chaos she grew up with.

“It was mayhem back then, but now we’re making it work. I can see everyone on a gradual track to success,” White said.