Kennedy High grad with ‘heart of gold’ ready for her future

CEDAR RAPIDS — Despite the challenging circumstances that led Byriahna Cox to the foster care system as a senior in high school, foster mom Marolyn Kelly says she has a “heart of gold.”

“She’s the same every day, always smiling, always the glass half full instead of half empty,” said Kelly, who Cox simply refers to as “Mom.”

Cox was one of 400 students who graduated Thursday from Kennedy High School.

For Cox, 17, graduating high school also means preparing to live independently as she exits the foster care system on her 18th birthday this summer. With Kelly’s help, she has met her goals toward living independently: opening a bank account, saving money and buying a car. In a couple of months, she will have an apartment of her own.

“Marolyn is like a mother to me. I really love her,” Cox said.

“Sometimes I want to cry because I can’t believe I made it this far and am about to go across the stage,” Cox said about a week before graduation. “I made it. I actually did it.”

Because of her foster care placement, Cox transferred from Jefferson High School to Kennedy for her senior year. Cox said she didn’t want to leave the school where she spent three years. But after two days at Kennedy, she already had friends.

She is working toward becoming a certified nursing assistant and would like to work in a hospital for a few years before enrolling back in school for her nursing degree.

Kelly, who has fostered more than 100 teenagers over the last 20 years, said Cox has a special bond with Kelly’s 89-year-old mother with vascular dementia.

“You would think that’s her real grandma,” Kelly said. “My mom sometimes doesn’t even recognize me, but asks, ‘Where’s that girl?’ She misses Bree when she’s not around.”

It’s that kind of compassion and love that Kelly says is going to make Cox a great nurse someday. “I’m so proud of her,” Kelly said.

For now, Cox works at a Wendy’s fast food restaurant, where she says she loves her co-workers and delights in the customers.

She often receives feedback from customers, who say she is “extremely friendly” and makes them “feel welcome” and they can “hear the smile in her voice” when she’s taking their order at the drive through.

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