Photos by Shaozhuo Cui | The Roanoke Times

Morgan Bruno (left) takes a break with classmates Kenneth Altizer and Heather Frost and student mentor Daniel Stump (right) outside Edwards Hall at New River Community College. This summer, the community college spent five Tuesdays teaching life skills to seven high school and college-age students in a program aimed to help children in foster care transition to college.

Sara Smith (right), who helped coordinate the community college's summer program, teaches Heather Frost and Kenneth Altizer how the female condom works.

DUBLIN -- New River Community College is one of five two-year colleges in the state offering a new program for educating foster-care youth called Great Expectations.

The goal is to help children in foster care transition to college as they "age out" of the foster-care system. Most foster children leave the system at age 18, but they can continue in the system to age 21 and receive help with college.

This summer, the community college spent five Tuesdays teaching life skills, such as hygiene and teamwork, to seven high school and college-age students in the pilot of the program.

In August, NRCC will offer a rotation of six sessions -- one in Dublin and one at the New River Valley Mall site -- of weekly after-school classes for high school-age foster children on other issues, such as employment, study skills and college preparation.

It's the beginning of what is planned as a statewide program to raise awareness of and offer assistance to foster children. Foster-care children often must deal with issues ranging from abandonment or an increased sense of responsibility, program organizers said.

"I don't want to stereotype them [the students]. You put them in a room with other kids and they're just kids," said Jenny Bolte, who oversees the foster children program at NRCC.

Glenn DuBois, chancellor of Virginia Community Colleges, spent a week last month riding his bicycle to colleges across the state in an effort to raise awareness about the new programs. It was also to promote a $10 million Virginia Community College Foundation fundraiser aimed at creating an endowment to keep the program sustainable.

The community college system committed to three years of the after-school programs, but money -- about $50,000 -- has been allocated only for next year, Bolte said.

Keeping the program consistent is important for the students, whose lives are often filled with abrupt changes, she said.

The classes at NRCC will offer students a support group of sorts while teaching basic skills, said Lois Davis, who will teach the classes.

"They've got to build those relationships with people, and that can be hard for them," Davis said.

The number of foster-care children often changes quickly. As of Thursday, 184 children were in foster care in the New River Valley, according to the state's Department of Social Services.

About 50 percent of the state's children in foster care are between ages 13 and 17, according to the department. The community college system estimates that 58 percent of foster-care children earn a diploma before age 19. Three percent go on to college, they say.

"A lot of times they feel more ready to take things on because they've been shuttled around and they're not always [ready]," said Sarah Smith, who helped coordinate this summer's class.

Student Morgan Bruno, who said she is excited to learn some tips on getting into college, fits that mold. Bruno, of Pulaski County, is 17 and has been in foster care for a little more than a year.

"I already know all this other stuff" being taught, she said.

Once she completes all the NRCC modules, filled with advice on subjects ranging from birth control to job placement, her tune could change, Bolte said.

"We can't give them everything, but we can give them someone who cares." she said.