Six Foster Children Celebrate Graduation Day at SOS Children’s Villages- Florida

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(Free-Press-Release.com) June 2, 2008 -- This spring SOS is celebrating the graduation of six young adults whose stories tell of overwhelming odds that never held them back.

1

Six Foster Children Celebrate Graduation Day at SOS Children’s Villages- Florida

Welcome visit Our WebSite:

http://www.sosflorida.com

Rosanna Disla grew up in a home with two hearing-impaired parents. When some family circumstances changed, she came to the safe, nurturing neighborhood of SOS for a year. Despite her situation, Rosanna continued to focus on her studies and work hard at Monarch High School. She also kept up her love for volunteer work and helping in the community through her work feeding the homeless. Her achievements and extra-curricular activities helped her to win one of the fifty-three Horatio Alger Scholarships given to Florida students. The scholarship will help her pay for college expenses.

Natasha Smith is the Villages’ newest college graduate. She was a foster child that was lucky enough to call SOS home for six years. The support she received while at the Village allowed her to look beyond her family circumstances and dream of a bright future. While still in high school, she knew that she wanted to do “something greater.” She looked toward her own life and experiences to figure out what that was.

Having worn braces throughout all of High School, she was spending a lot of time at the orthodontist. Her experiences lead her toward an interest in dentistry. So she began her college career at the University of South Florida as a Bio- Medical Science Major with the hopes of going to dental school.

But she quickly discovered that being in the dental chair and sitting behind it were two entirely different experiences. Soon Natasha found herself following a similar but more meaningful path. Minoring in Public Health opened new doors for the young student, showing her new and meaningful ways to dedicate herself to the common good. The kindness and help that she received as a child in the foster care system and at SOS Children’s Villages made an impact on her. They left her with the desire to do the same for someone else.

“I have a passion for helping people,” says Natasha, “because I feel that I’ve been helped. I want to give to people and kids that don’t have the resources that we have.”

Today, Natasha is studying for her GRE with the hopes of going back to school next spring for her Masters in Public Health. Her career path is leading her to the study of global health and infectious diseases with the hopes of traveling to Africa or South America, which are also home to over 200 SOS Children’s Villages, to help those impoverished countries battle diseases that ravage their populations.

SOS Children’s Villages - Florida provides homes to abused and abandoned children who have no imminent hope of being adopted or returned to their birth families. Whenever possible, brothers and sisters are reunited at SOS. SOS is home to up to 66 children and is part of a worldwide network of over 400 villages caring for disadvantaged children. SOS nurtures and supports these boys and girls in order to prepare them for a future as productive members of society. For more information, call 954.420.5030 or visit us at www.sosflorida.com.

###

More information can be found online at http://www.sosflorida.com

abuse     florida     Foster Care     foster child     foster home     kids     neglect     s villages     sos children