ACE Scholar's Journey to Graduation Sets Example for Daughters

As Karen Julian prepares to take the stage for graduation, she looks back on her life and recalls the many hardships she has faced to bring her to this moment. The journey wasn’t easy, but she couldn’t be prouder of the person she has become.

Julian, a Cal State San Marcos social sciences major who's graduating this week, grew up in Los Angeles. The youngest of six siblings, she dealt with surroundings that proved challenging. She said one of her sisters became addicted to drugs when Julian was young, and a brother got involved with gangs and was in and out of juvenile hall.

Julian said her father was an abusive alcoholic and that her parents divorced when she was 2 years old. Her mother worked nights at a hospital as a nursing assistant, and her oldest brother was often responsible for taking care of her and her siblings as best he could.

But Julian doesn’t have much memory of her siblings because when she was only 6, she and her next-oldest sister were placed in foster care. They previously had been in kinship care with their maternal grandmother, who lived across the street. However, they were put in foster care after often returning to their mother’s house, where they were not allowed to be because their mother’s new boyfriend had been accused of molesting one of Julian’s siblings. 

“A lot of my childhood was just surviving,” Julian said.

Julian moved 11 times during her 13 years in foster care, making it difficult to create a solid group of friends. In eighth grade, she attended one school for only 20 days, but those 20 days marked an important milestone for her. It was at that school that she tested into honors classes, which allowed her to take AP classes when she entered high school.

After graduating from high school, Julian was accepted into the Guardian Scholars program, which helps former foster youth pursue higher education. Though the scholarship helped her afford college, the overall experience proved traumatizing.

Julian was sexually assaulted at both her initial college and another college where she transferred after the first incident. Both times, she said, her feelings were never prioritized. She said she wasn’t believed the first time and the second time she was only asked if she was pregnant.

The assaults led to a challenging period. Julian couch surfed with friends until she eventually had to move back with her biological mother because she had nowhere else to go. That, too, was traumatic as Julian contended with learning that she had been molested as a child, which she said subconsciously contributed to many of the issues she experienced as a young adult.

To make matters worse, Julian also experienced an ectopic pregnancy that left her fighting for her life in the hospital, with only one of her foster parents around to support her.

Julian recovered and worked countless jobs just trying to survive without a support system. She ended up marrying a man she hoped could provide her with stability and love, but the relationship was both physically and verbally abusive.

It continued until one day Julian knew she needed to make a change.

“I just remember thinking, ‘I don’t deserve this. I’ve worked so hard and I know I am worth more than this,’ ” she said.

After a gap of almost 20 years since she’d been in college, Julian enrolled at Irvine Valley College during the pandemic. She earned an associate degree and transferred to CSUSM in 2024 to pursue a bachelor’s degree.

During orientation at CSUSM, Julian was unsure if she had made the right choice to pursue a degree in social sciences, as she originally went to college for psychology. But seeing sociology professor Matthew Atherton made all the difference.

“When I saw Dr. Atherton’s bright smile, he made me feel like I made the right choice,” Julian said.

It wasn’t just the encouragement of professors that made her time at CSUSM special. It was also the support she received from ACE Scholars Services when she needed it most. Being in her 40s, Julian no longer qualified for financial support from ACE. However, she still loved having community support when she was going through tough times.

“ACE gave me a safe space to let out my feelings and vent about situations I was struggling with, where I may not have even been able to go to class if I held these thoughts in,” she said.

The comforting space that ACE Scholars cultivates for former foster care students has helped many students achieve the higher education goals they thought were unattainable.

Over the last 15 years, Julian met the man she is currently living with and helped him fight for custody of his two daughters. She continues to support the girls, as their biological mother was not part of their upbringing. They are 18 and 20 now, and Julian has made it her top priority to give them the life she wishes she had.

“I never thought I would be a mom because I was afraid I would transfer all the trauma that I went through onto my children,” Julian said, “But it was actually the opposite. I took everything that I didn't like from my childhood and promised I would never be that type of parent.”

So, as Julian completes her finals, writes her last papers and orders her cap and gown for graduation, she is reminded of how much of a role model she has been for her daughters. She has worked to show them that, even when life seems like it has turned against you, you can always make it through.

Julian is applying to get her master’s in education counseling at San Diego State University and hopes to continue her passion for inspiring students, especially foster students, to achieve higher education.

“Foster care children come from a place where they just need a little more help to believe in themselves,” she said. “And I hope to one day be the support for those students.”

Media Contact

Eric Breier, Interim Assistant Director of Editorial and External Affairs

ebreier@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7314