Jennifer Foster
Jennifer Foster’s life took an unexpected turn after high school – she became a mom. Jennifer credits her Christian faith, hard work and unwavering determination as the reasons she not only finished college in four years while raising her baby girl, she graduated with top honors.
Jennifer began her college career at Richland. During this time she went to school full-time; worked; cared for her daughter, Jayda; sang in church choir; and served as President of Phi Theta Kappa. She was a PTK Outstanding Chapter Officer. In May 2005, Jennifer completed an Associate of Science degree with a perfect 4.0 GPA.
Recognizing her scholastic excellence, Jennifer was offered a full academic scholarship to Southern Methodist University. At SMU, Jennifer was a member of the Mortar Board, an honor society for seniors; Mustang Corral; and the SMU Program Council as one of 25 students selected by faculty and administrators to advise the university president. She also was selected to participate in Leadershape, an intensive six-day leadership training program designed for future leaders. Jennifer graduated summa cum laude from SMU in 2007 with a 3.81 GPA, earning a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology.
Jennifer’s accolades include Psi Chi Honor Society for Psychology; Who's Who Among Students in American University and Colleges; SMU’s Honor Roll; National Scholars Honor Society; Chancellor's List and National Dean's List.
Even as a busy single parent, Jennifer makes time to give back to the community. She has volunteered at Genesis Women Shelter; AIDS Interfaith Network; Human Rights Campaign Black Tie Dinner; Hope Cottage Center for Pregnant Teens; Bryan's House (organization for children with AIDS); and the Richardson Police Department.
Since graduating from SMU, Jennifer has been working for Forex Capital Markets, an online currency trading company, and raising Jayda, who is 5 years old.
Jennifer says her driving force to be a success is her daughter. “I knew I had to finish college for her, to secure a future for her in the long run,” she says. “I also wanted to finish just to beat the statistics and prove a lot of people wrong.”