How it started: 

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The Association for the Study of Higher Education (ASHE) conference 2018 was the beginning of the Foster Scholars community. Seven scholars with lived experience in foster care co-presented on the topic of family privilege and higher education…..At that conference a smaller group of us gathered to have appetizers and drinks in the lobby. The ideas and conversation were flowing. Our synergy was electric and absolutely energizing! We began to imagine what it might look like if we created a collective space for our community and our voice by developing a platform to share our work and the work of others. What if we told our own stories from our perspective - as higher education practitioners, scholars, as older adults who have experience with life after foster care? It was that day that the Foster Scholars collective was born.

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