Amy Yu had a tough childhood in Allentown, Pa. Her father left the family to move back to China when Yu ’24 H&HD was 1; her mother, originally from Vietnam, struggled to raise Yu and her younger brother by herself. She spoke very little English and relied heavily on Yu. That burden created tension between them, and at age 14, Yu left home. She lived with friends at first, then, when she turned 15, she was placed into the foster care system. She bounced around group homes and shelters, and, when she turned 17, Yu was placed at the Bethany Children’s Home in Womelsdorf, Pa. She was still living there when she started at Penn State Berks through its Aspiring Scholars Program in the fall of 2020.

Being in the foster care system and subject to constant uprooting meant Yu missed a lot of high school. Behavioral issues also disrupted her education. “I used to have a lot of conflict in school,” she says, “so they made me do it online. But when I turned 18, I learned that because I was in foster care, the government would pay for my education, so I decided to go to college. I feel like that’s what saved my life.”

Academically, she had no problems, but Yu struggled initially with the self-discipline, accountability, and organization that college requires. “That was really hard for someone that’s not used to going to school,” she says. Being in the foster care system also meant Yu had become accustomed to being on her own, so making new friends was hard for her.

Thanks to Fostering Lions, Yu found a community. She made friends and got the support she needed to succeed in her classes. Cheri Hillard helped her with the little things—soap, shampoo, Christmas presents—and visited her once a semester. She connected Yu with other students in the program. “I was able to see that I’m not alone here, that there are others like me who can understand the kind of life I’ve had,” she says. “When you’ve been in the system for a while, it’s hard to create deep friendships. Fostering Lions definitely opened doors for me and helped me make those connections.”

Yu started out as a business major but switched to hospitality management. She studied abroad in Florence, Italy, and Maastricht in Holland. She lives in the Philly suburbs and works for the federal government. Since graduating, she’s reconnected with both her parents—and in April, she became a mother herself to a baby girl.