My name is Kyira Knous. I’m a second-year student majoring in social work.
My journey through this major has been nothing short of wonderful, and I find myself to know and understand a lot of the material that is taught. Some days, I feel like I talk down many rabbit holes in class based off my own wisdom.
This is not me thinking I know more than my professors. This is me, experiencing first-hand, what a social worker does and how they impact the lives of kids like me.
I was born into the foster system and adopted at a very young age. The National Foster Youth Institute says about 10% of former foster youth will pursue higher education. Of that 10%, only about 3% will graduate. I’m incredibly grateful to have been adopted into my family. But it hasn’t been without a lot of bumps along the way. My adopted parents divorced when I was three years old. Only about 27% of children with divorced parents will earn an undergraduate degree, according to a family law advocate. Starting at the age of 16, substance abuse entered into my home at my dad’s, and I watched my family be ripped apart by it. Since then, I have had to sever ties to my adopted dad, just this August actually. You could say I grew up faster than I should have had to.
But I don’t begrudge the cards that have been dealt to me. By the time I was a sophomore in high school, I knew I wanted to be a social worker. An adoption social worker, guardian ad litem, and a mental health counselor all inspired me in my youth. This early decision helped me begin my research of social work schools sooner than most of my peers, and this research led me to Ohio State.
I knew Ohio State had one of the best social work programs and the added bonus was that we had a campus just a half hour from my hometown of Wapakoneta. I was set on my decision, but my mom began to worry how she would possibly be able to help me afford college.
Like everything else in my life that I consider to be “abnormal,” from that of my peers, my college search and tour experience came during COVID. Despite the unusual circumstances, I knew this was the place for me. Financial aid and my persistent mother encouraged me to apply for scholarships. I was finally on the road to where I wanted to go and who I wanted to be.
I couldn’t have imagined two years ago how all of these steps would come together. The week of my birthday during my senior year, I got the phone call that I’d been awarded the full-tuition Rudd Scholarship. I was so excited I dropped the phone and financial aid had to ask if everything was ok. I was better than ok.
This scholarship meant I could go to college and completely immerse myself into the experience. I still work nearly 30 hours per week between my job on campus in the Cook Hall Gymnasium and also as a case manager at Foundations Behavioral Health in Celina, but without this scholarship, I would have been barely scraping by, to understate it.
Now, I’m president of the social work volunteer club, play flag football and volleyball, and I am a member of the LatinX, Bible and Womens Empowerment Clubs. I am also a mentor in the Each One Teaches One program for incoming freshmen. I had the opportunity to represent the Lima campus on the regional Homecoming Court this fall. Perhaps most exciting of all, I’m also involved in the STEP Program – that’s the Second Year Transformational Experience Program.
As a member of STEP, I work with a Faculty Mentor and a small group of peers in a truly transformational experience across the course of my second year. Fall semester is focused on community building, goal setting, personal growth and identity exploration through engaging discussions and activities. In the spring semester, my Faculty Mentor, Ian Breidenbach, the campus art instructor, will guide me through the process of crafting a proposal for a STEP Signature Project for which I can earn up to $2,000 to support my project.
I’ve already decided that I’d like for my STEP Signature Project to include an experience abroad to a Latin or South American country. I’m interested in learning more about human trafficking in those areas. This will set me up well when I hopefully enter the Peace Corp upon graduation and continue this type of work.
To say that scholarships are making all of this possible is a great understatement. Without the generous support of people like you who want to see people like me succeed, I wouldn’t be on this amazing path to success, especially with such grace. These scholarships open possibilities to the world – quite literally – that simply wouldn’t exist otherwise. Thank you for building others up in such an empowering way. You are helping me change the world.