Washington Square. On air is the Audiotown square for the Washington Square Review. Lansing Community College's literary journal. Writers, readers, scholars, publishing professionals, citizens of the world, gather here and chat about all things writing. Hey there. This is Melissa Ford Lucken, editor for the Washington Square Review. I'm here today, though, as Professor Melissa Ford Lucken with Isaiah Wummel, one of my composition 121 students. Hey there, Isaiah.

Hello.

So tell us about your journey to LCC, most specifically how you got here recently.

I've actually been an LCC student for two years. During my senior year, I was given the lucky opportunity to do dual enrollment and participate a little bit in the college festivities of, you know, being a traditional college student. And I mean, getting to do those experiences got me into kind of loving the learning that I get to do here at lcc.

Okay, talk a little bit about those experience.

I got to senior year.

What school were you?

I'm an alumni from Holt High School.

Okay, all right. When you say you got the opportunity, how did that come to you there?

Mine's a very weird circumstance. Due to being in the situation I've been in. Was able to forego getting extra credits while transferring to a different school, which gave me an opening to start taking dual enrollment classes during my senior year.

Okay, who approached you about the dual enrollment?

It was actually Lucas Schauben, the LCC academic advisor at Holt High School.

Oh, okay. All right. So when you first started here at lcc, what were you expecting?

I was expecting to get my butt absolutely whooped with classes. I was expecting it to be just an utter slog of.

Why did you think that?

I don't know. I guess I've always had that preconceived notion that college was always such a pain.

Okay, all right, so it sounds like that's not quite what happened.

Oh, not at all.

All right, tell us what did happen?

Honestly, it was one of the easiest things I've ever done. Most enjoyable things I've done too far. I've never had more fun than when I'm doing my class here at lcc.

Okay, you mentioned college experiences. Be more specific.

Before I got to participate in college festivities, I was quite social, but I never really got out much in interacting with my community. But being here at lcc, I'm able. I see so many people that I know every day, and I get to interact and, like, be a part of the community.

Okay. And interact. You see them maybe like at the learning commons, in the hallway. Where do you see them?

Everywhere.

In class.

I'm Going from building to building multiple times every day. So I. I see such a variety of people and everywhere, and everyone just has such a good smile on their faces.

Okay. So it's pretty relaxed, feels familiar, even though it's still kind of new. All right, so you let me know a little bit about your unusual journey through school. Talk a little bit about that.

So I am a previous foster youth, luckily adopted. But my journey began when I was around 14. I went into the foster care system, and it presented a unique set of challenges with transferring from school to school as placements change, and having to find my own bearings and get a hold to the point where I'm actually able to keep up. And then through said challenges, I learned not only how to just cling on, but how to strive to succeed.

Okay. Something that some people aren't aware of. When you change schools, did you change in the middle of the year?

Multiple times.

Okay. Because you're enrolled in one set of classes, and then when you move to a new institution, they have to enroll you in classes, but they can't always match up what you were doing. So I'm guessing there was a lot of disconnect there.

There was so much disconnect.

All right, how did that happen? How did you work around? Sounds like you probably went from, like, math and history to, you know, psychology and sociology in the same, you know, month.

Adjusting took a while. Teachers had a certain level of understanding, but a lot of it fell on my part. And I remember having to go to, like, spend all my extra time in the library reviewing all the previous sections that were covered and going into great detail about making sure I could practice and get down the fundamentals so I can be ready and prepared for like, the upcoming stuff in, like, the next day of. And just like that constant, like, feeling behind and like, it. It's mind boggling.

Right, because you would have missed whole chunks of whatever happened before you got there.

Yeah, I mean, when I was going to Athens, Michigan, it was small, small country bumpkin school. I was taking economics during the second semester, and they do, they do block classes. So it's about hour 45 minutes for each class. So that made it even harder because I only got like maybe a week and a half into like, the semester. And then I had to transfer to Lanesburg High School, and there I got into economics class. But for their economics class, it's a junior level class while me still being a freshman. And then they're already like 90% done with the class. So I have to, like, spend like, the Next three weeks, just behind, like, one textbook, memorizing it just so I can maintain a good enough grade to pass the class.

You've let me know that you're pretty open about talking, you know, about the experiences that you've been through and how that's affected you. I'm wondering how open were teachers when, like, how much information did you have to give them about why you popped in there all of a sudden?

I would say the first few times I transferred, I was usually a little bit more reserved about it, and teachers did what they could with that. But through enough transferring, I found out that actually being more open is more advantageous. They're more willing to be, like, understanding and compromise with you to help you strive to succeed.

So you just have to be straightforward about how you landed there. Give us an idea of how. You said you've transferred a lot. Can you give us a visual? So this started when you were 14?

And I did transfer to a lot of schools before foster care. But in foster care, I was at five schools.

Okay, and then what was the reason for the transfers?

A lot of it was just I wasn't doing good in, like, either the placements or the placement I knew was going to be temporary but had to go longer then because they couldn't find a new placement for me. Like, for my time at Athens, I was living with my biological uncle. Things weren't going good. The relationship, it was quite a struggle, and eventually he wanted me out. So I got moved. And with a temporary home or referred to as respite, and usually those go for maybe like two or three weeks, maybe even a month. But because they couldn't find a placement for a kid of my age, because I think I was around 15, almost 16 at that time, I was living with her for almost eight months. And because I was there for so long, I had to start participating in school. So I was not super academically behind.

It sounds like a lot of the responsibility fell on you for figuring out what it is that you needed to do to make stuff up, you know, your academics and find the holes. That is that what happened? It was mostly just you.

A lot of the responsibility is on you to advocate for your own success in striving to actually succeed. Most, if not all, foster kids have a social care worker, but most. What most don't recognize is you are like a number on a paper for them. They don't really too much consider you. Or at least from my perspective, they don't consider you. They're like, oh, I got to get deal with this person's problems now. So there isn't too much of that care or connection, which makes it hard because they're not. They're not going to strive for you to succeed. They're going to do the bare minimum just to give you the requirements. And it's really not beneficial in a lot of foster youth.

It sounds like they're just doing their process, whatever the state requires them to do, and that their process doesn't include looking out for you educationally.

I mean, I was lucky enough that I knew, like, I had to beg some of my schools to let me participate in certain classes or transfer to other, like, weird classes that had somewhat, like, alignments with previous class I took, so I didn't have to, like, catch up on the entire class beforehand.

How did your transcript hold together?

My transcript is in shambles, utter shambles.

It sounds like it was your responsibility to keep track of which courses you had completed.

It was a lot of the time because there's so much movement and so much, like, loss of, like, stuff. I remember when I transferred to Lanesburg, they didn't have my transcript. They didn't have anything. They had to go off my word of what it was. And I had to be informed enough to know all the high school class I had, what my grade was for that class, what letter grade I got for that class, my exam grade for all the classes. Like, I had to keep that. And thankfully I knew enough about this that I actually kept all those things with me in a little folder just so, like, I had proof to show the school that, oh, I did pass this. I did pass this. And even then I still had to end up taking some of the same classes over and over and over. Like, I remember I've taken algebra, I think, six times by this point.

That's interesting because you could probably tell the difference between different ways that people teach it.

Oh, I know. And that's also. It's made my learning really strange. Like, I think I think about math in such a geometric way that most people just can't understand. And like, I try to explain. They're like, how do you think about it? Like that I'm like, that's just kind of how I've always thought about it. Like, and the different ways teachers teach can is sometimes a strength and a curse. You can't really discuss with people in a way that's able to be comprehended or understood, but you're able to think in such a wide variety of ways that you can get out of most.

Problems can you give us an example of a problem you got out of.

Oh, I remember I had a high school geometry teacher and he was, he was something, he was a nice guy, but the way he taught was just so off the wall. And I learned some of like the craziest little like tendencies of patterns. And I ended up using that to prove a argument against my AP calculus teacher during my senior year about an optimization problem. And he was like, I've never seen anyone do that this way before. Not even like, I haven't even seen like my college professors for like Cal3 do this. And I'm like, yeah. Because they would never think of a correlation like this.

That's wild. So if I'm hearing you right, you've experienced a lot of different teaching styles and a lot of different probably like curriculum patterns, the way that people arrange different content.

Yes.

So you've had to decode what's the teacher think is most important. What is the curriculum trying to make me think is most important.

Absolutely.

That's pretty wild. Has that helped you in your non academic life?

I would say yes. It's kept me on my toes, thinking creatively. Like, it's like there are so many situations that you could be given to someone who's not my circumstance that would seem like too mind boggling or too difficult to like not be able to process or get through. You gave me that problem. And I will sit down at the table with a piece of paper and I will write out like six different ways to get out of this problem in different ways. And it leads to I think again, greater creativity, greater problem solving issues and more of that because I had to advocate for myself so long more that drive that I have to solve my own problems. Because who else will?

Right? And to be straightforward about it, it sounds like.

Exactly.

Yeah, yeah. Can you think of an example of a problem that you've wrestled with recently? Because before we came down here, you and I were talking a little bit and you were sharing with me that a lot of times when you talk to people about your life, they're kind of astounded. And it sounds like the conversation shifts to, you know, what their experience was compared to your experience and that that ends up being the focus of the conversation. And you were telling me you're like, it's just, it's my life, I'm cool with talking about it, you know. And so I wonder if when you're problem solving, if sometimes people underestimate you. I think is what I'm asking.

Oh, definitely. I not saying that People look down on me, but I. There are times where maybe someone's like, oh, I can solve this problem. Or there's this really difficult problem that they don't think I have any capability of approaching because I am a foster kid. And traditionally, a lot of foster kids, especially ones of my age, are very behind academically due to all the troubles that arise. And they're like, oh, he probably can't do it.

And you figured out five ways to do it already.

Oh, I remember I was building a pool with my adoptive dad. He's like, ooh, what's the radius of this pool with where we have it set? Because we were putting up the wall. And he's like, dang it, I can't move, and you can't move. Because he wanted to get his tape measure. And I looked at him because I know his exact height. I knew where the sun was and the time of day. I could tell where the shadow of it was. And I use that to calculate the exact area, circumference of the pool wall, to, like, calculate what we needed to do. And I told him that, and he's like, I doubt that. So he had me take the other part of the wall he measured, and I was down to, like, I think the 100th an inch. And he was like, how do you do that? And I'm like, you got to think of creative ways to solve the problem. You can't just always measure it. You got to. You got to use what details you have around you.

That's fascinating, because when you're constantly in new environments and dealing with new set of circumstances, you can't always use the same problem solving you used before. So it sounds like you've constantly had to readjust not to a setting, but also a set of circumstances, like, who's involved, what are their opinions and ideas? And that's wild.

Absolutely. I would probably say my whole life, or even just academically, is defined by a constant change. Like, I would say most people would define themselves by usually the constants that they go through in life. But I feel like it's a strength for me to define myself by the change I'm constantly experiencing. Because not only does that give me more room to grow, it gives me room to adapt, to change, to become something more than what I am now.

Do you find that if you're in one spot too long, do you get restless?

Yes, absolutely. Without question. And that's not saying that, like, I get tired of where I am, but a change of perspective or a change of environment every now and then, I feel like has to happen. If not, I feel like I'm. I don't feel like myself. I feel like I'm just. It feels too out of body for me.

No, it's understandable, for sure. So we talked about your interactions with teachers. Let's talk a little bit about other students. What was your comfort level in the beginning with explaining why you just, you know, popped up at a new school or.

There's a lot of uncomfortable feelings with, like, originally sharing, like, said details because I didn't know how people would react to, like, hearing about my life and everything. And usually there's this preconceived notion that it's always the kid's fault in a foster, like, care situation, and that's usually. It's just a bad kid. And so I had difficulties bringing that up because I feared that I would be too quickly judged and just set aside. But as soon as I got more, like, comfortable, I realized that I could open up little by little. And then, honestly, I think by the third move, I started, like, just being completely open about it because it gave me, I mean, great talking points, great way to start a conversation or keep a conversation going. But it helped me make more friends. And honestly, for, like, the few times I was bullied about it, with me being as open as I was about it, it didn't ever faze me because.

I'm like, oh, okay, so you said that being more open about it helped you make more friends. Can you give an example or talk a little bit about that? What did that look like?

This is actually a really recent example that happened. So one of my friends, I won't name him, recently, did not like me. He did not like me in high school. He found me rather annoying, which, honestly, completely true. I used to play Christmas music around the school with a Bluetooth speaker that I had just because I thought it was funny, because I love Christmas. But he used that as kind of his image of me. But then we have a mutual friend, so we were talking, and he's like, hey, what was your childhood like? And I kind of explained to him, and then he got more of, like, the image of what it was actually like, kind of being in my shoes.

Mm.

And he's like, oh, I had you completely wrong. You were just adjusting. You're actually, like, a really cool person to be around. And it's. It's kind of those examples of me being more open lets other people see it through my eyes.

Okay. And so they're not left with assumptions and kind of, like, stereotypes, they get the whole picture.

And if they like it, they like it. If they don't, they can go away.

Yeah. Let's talk a little bit about the stereotypes and people's perceptions of the foster care system, because there's probably a lot of stuff that people don't know. Maybe, like, what's some stuff that you think people should know?

That's really hard. I feel like what a lot of people need to know is that, yes, a lot of kids may come off as abrasive or angry, but that is not anger because of just them being them. That is anger caused by trauma for being in the system. That is a emotional response to being put in a world of, like, ever changing.

Mm. And I know from reading some of your writing that the change is out of your control.

Oh, completely honestly, it feels like a Lego set that I don't have hands to build.

So you're constantly adjusting to someone else's recreation of your LEGO set.

Exactly.

Yeah. What do you think should change with the foster care system? What could make it better?

That is kind of the ever present question. There's a lot of things I actually don't think there's anything that we could directly change that wouldn't have an unknown negative outcome.

Okay.

But maybe if I could recommend anything, maybe just more public awareness of it. I feel like so few people actually, like, think are new know about it, that, like, it just. If more people knew, I don't feel like there'd be such a preconceived notion.

Yeah. I think if I'm hearing you right, what you're saying is there. There are many people who've gone through the foster care system or are in it now, and they're out in the world and people don't know. You know, they don't.

Yeah, exactly. And a lot of kids will hide from that label of being a foster kid. Very few, like me, like, embrace it and accept it. But maybe that awareness would give them the comfort to be more open and share, like, their experiences.

I hear what you're saying about just owning it because it is part of who you are. And by owning it, it's helped you overcome obstacles and make friends and get ahead academically.

I mean, yeah, it's. It's who I am. I mean, honestly, for how long I was in the system. I mean, it's. It's a good, I don't know, quarter, no fifth of my life. And I mean, I don't think it'd be normal to say that, oh, this fifth of my Life just never existed.

Yeah. To disassociate yourself from it. Let's talk a little bit about where you are academically now and where you're headed. So talk a little bit about the classes that you're taking now and how the studying is going.

I'm currently taking Math120, Composition121 and Philosophy211. I'm enjoying all my classes. I'm a math geek, so I love. I love me some math120. I find it interesting. Nothing too crazy, too difficult, but I enjoy composition 121 a lot. It forces me to think in other ways that I haven't and I enjoy the perspective it gives me. And then honestly, philosophy 2:11. The brain hurt. This class causes me. But it's fun. Brain hurt, Right?

Right. I can tell because you're smiling.

I've not laughed so hard at a teacher in a class, but understood so much. The discussions are great, but just the people, the people in the class are great. I. I have so much fun.

That's very cool. Tell us a little bit about your plans when you're done here at lcc.

So when I finish lcc, I plan to transfer to U of M Ann Arbor. I am in a fortunate position where I landed myself a four year full ride if I maintain my GPA high enough here and I will use that to get my Master's in engineering.

And that full ride came from your ownership of your identity. Exactly right. Making it work for you. Yeah. That's super cool. Is there anything that you can think of if somebody was listening to this podcast and they could relate to parts of what you're talking about? What would you want them to know about coming here to lcc?

You will find such a great community here. I have not once been judged. For me, being a foster youth, I like I can talk to anyone. I've had some wonderful, great conversations with people here and it's all so accepting. I'd recommend anyone come here.

Okay, cool. Well, thanks a lot for coming by and talking to me.

Anytime.

Thanks for stopping by the Audio Town School square of the Washington Square Review. Until next time, this has been Washington Square on air from Lansing Community College. To find out more about our writers, community and literary journal, visit lcc. Edu WSL Writing is messy, but do it anyway. Sam.