From homelessness to law school, motivated student benefits from critical program
On any given day, Sam Uwizeyimana can be found studying legal cases and preparing for exams. It’s a scene that would have been difficult to imagine a decade ago, when the now 28-year-old was experiencing homelessness and placed into foster care. Today, his story reflects what’s possible when resilience meets opportunity and a child is provided with the right support.
“Me and my family were living at a motel,” he said. “I was trying to get my mom out of a spot and get her help. And I was pretty much doing everything, working while I was in school and trying to figure out where to go.”
It was 2014, and Uwizeyimana was a high school student in Sioux Falls, living with this single mother and two young twin brothers. A disagreement with their landlord had led to the family having to move, and he knew something had to change.
“Initially, it was a Super 8, but that was too expensive, so I found a motel with a monthly payment plan. I said, ‘We need to plan our way out of here,’” he said.
Uwizeyimana soon needed to leave the situation and was on his own.
“I was on the streets and still going to school but paying for the place because I didn’t want my brothers on the street,” he said.
Uwizeyimana reached out for help, and the Bishop Dudley Hospitality House advocated on the children’s behalf. The South Dakota Department of Social Services became custodians of Uwizeyimana and the twins.
That’s when Uwizeyimana became connected with the Community Resource Program, a state contract administered by LSS of South Dakota.
The program serves youths age 16 through 21 in foster care or who are transitioning to life as adults.
“Many people don’t realize this program exists or what it looks like for a young adult to be exiting DSS custody,” said Melissa Goeken, a social worker with the Community Resource Program at LSS.
The program provides support with finding employment, completing high school and applying to colleges, securing housing, learning life skills and connecting to health resources.
“Our only job is to support youth who have been in state custody,” Goeken said. “We meet them where they’re at. If they’re in high school, there’s money to pay for senior pictures, a cap and gown, and prom. After that, they’re assisted as they move forward into young adulthood.”
Goeken helped Uwizeyimana secure a voucher for scholarship funding to help support his undergraduate education at USD.
The Community Resource Program also helped him pay for some starter items in his first apartment.
“Our clients earn money as they complete life skills, from graduating high school to opening a bank account and completing driver’s ed,” Goeken said. “We’ll ask them to make a list of things they would like for a dorm or first apartment and make sure they are able to start out with all the basics they need.”
The goal is to equip clients with the life skills they need to live on their own and learn how to navigate the complexities of adulthood. For Uwizeyimana, the help was key to a path toward a better future.
“My teachers and counselors at Lincoln High School registered me for the ACT test because they said I should consider it, and then my caseworker at LSS helped me apply to college and took me to USD for the tour and helped me through the process,” he said.
“I wouldn’t have thought I could do it, but I took summer school and moved to Vermillion, and by the time the school year started, I was in a better spot.”
He originally considered becoming a social worker until a connection from Lincoln High School asked if he had thought about studying philosophy.
“I tried and just knew right away that was for me,” he said.
By his sophomore year, he had a bigger goal in sight: law school.
“I started looking at career paths where I could take my degree,” he said. “Philosophers were ranked high when it came to taking LSAT exams, so I thought it might line up well with what I was doing and allow me to help people.”
The young man who grew up feeling powerless and incapable of making change suddenly had doors open to him.
“I knew if I was going to do something impactful, law would be an avenue to allow me to be in a position to truly impact other people’s lives,” he said.
Uwizeyimana now is on track to earn his law degree from the USD Knudson School of Law in 2028. He’s spending this summer as an intern in the South Dakota Attorney General’s Office while continuing to take a class.
“It’s been a good experience to see what attorneys do, and I get to travel around the state, which opens my horizon,” he said.
Looking back, the Community Resource Program gave him the support necessary to be successful.
“I didn’t have family. I didn’t have necessarily the backbone I would need to help me move forward or people to talk to or lean on,” he said.
“Just knowing someone is there who cares and wants you to do well is very important and necessary. I knew someone was counting on me to do the work, and I didn’t want to disappoint them,” Uwizeyimana said.
“A major part for me was getting to the place where I could accept help and not feel I was less for it. Whenever someone offered to help, I never pushed them away. I kept trying, and it paid dividends later on.”
He also recently returned to LSS to speak to teens in foster care from across the state.
“He gave a presentation about his life as a kid through now, and it’s just amazing,” Goeken said. “His message was: ‘You can do it. I’ve been there. It’s hard, but you have to move forward and believe in yourself and work hard, and good things will happen.’”
And for Uwizeyimana, those things likely are just beginning, she added.
“I think we’re going to see great things out of Sam, and he’s going to do a lot for those in need with his law degree,” Goeken said. “He’s going to change the world that he lives in.”
