Melvin Roy sticks to his dreams.
He overcame the turmoil of living in four foster homes during high school to enroll at ¹ÏÉñÍø in 2018.
As a freshman, he founded Foster-U, which seeks to support youth in the foster care system.
This month, he organized March for Our Care, an event on Kaufman Mall that blended foster care awareness, a walk, donations for foster children and a performance by ¹ÏÉñÍø's Blue Diamonds, a stomp-and-shake team. COVID delayed his plans for the event two years ago, but he didn't give up on his vision.
Next month, Roy will graduate with a bachelor's degree in human services. Only 3% of foster youth end up with a college diploma.
"I want to change that," said Roy, who hopes to turn Foster-U into a for-profit agency focused on online mentoring after he graduates. "I want to show youth in care what's possible after high school."
Roy tries to take a positive view to his time in foster care.
Some families "didn't grant me the space I needed to grow or the support to make sure I could push through to the finish line." But the experience "changed me for the better," he reflected.
"Even though I was going through a really hard time, it made me more empathetic and pushed me to help others who are going through the same thing."
At ¹ÏÉñÍø, he switched majors from political science to criminal justice to human services, which "fit perfectly with everything I had done."
Roy served as vice president of the Student Government Association in 2020-21. The experience, he said, sharpened his time-management and people skills. "I was managing eight directors from different committees, making sure they were on top of their duties and still staying on top of mine."
He received ¹ÏÉñÍø's Evon-Broderick Award for Community Engagement and Service in 2020 and the Ellen Neufeldt Leader of the Year Award this spring.
Roy also pursued his passion during a summer internship with the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute in 2020. He wrote a federal policy report advocating for a government-financed trust fund for 18- to 21-year-olds who were in foster care. "Once they age out of the system," he said, "they might not have money for food or a stable place to stay."
The highlight for Roy was presenting his proposal to a group including federal officials and then-First Lady Melania Trump.
He envisions a career in politics, but his next step is a master's degree in divinity from Regent University. Roy already started graduate classes this semester.
He'll be in Washington this summer for a two-month internship with U.S. Rep. Karen Bass, a Democrat from California who founded the Congressional Caucus on Foster Youth.
"It's right in my wheelhouse," Roy said. "I'm excited. All the connections I make this summer are going to shape the rest of my life."
Read more about Melvin Roy in the summer issue of Monarch magazine.
