A house isn’t a home without the people who live in it. 

That’s why we need aspiring realtors like Kamryn Middleton. 

After spending the past three years moving through foster homes, Middleton now seeks to give others what she was missing: a chance to put down roots. 

“I want to create a business. I want to create a name. I want to help people be able to find their ‘forever homes,’ not in a cliché way. But I know for me, I moved around a lot, and I struggled with making a home somewhere,” she said. 

As a freshman at Missouri State, she is set on double majoring in entrepreneurship and finance. 

After completing an internship with Springfield real estate companies, Middleton realized how much she enjoyed communicating with her clients. 

With business and money often intertwined, she sees a finance major as an asset that will complement her entrepreneurial ambitions. 

When Middleton was deciding on colleges, her high school teacher encouraged her to consider applying to Missouri State, which quickly became her first choice of schools due to its affordability and proximity to her hometown of Independence, Missouri. 

She was also drawn to the promising opportunities in Springfield, where she could engage with the community. 

“I felt like Missouri State was the best option for me,” Middleton said. “They gave me the most financial coverage, and I had a lot of people there to help me — whether that was my success coach, my academic advisor and other people who were there with me to help me through the process.” 

Set up for success

Middleton’s transition into college life was made easier with the support of her success coach, Christina Bowles. 

“I was very nervous to have a success coach, because I didn’t really want someone who was necessarily a therapist for me. And I didn’t want a tutor,” Middleton said. “I wanted someone that I could just kind of talk to (and) problem solve with who understood where I was coming from.” 

Middleton was glad to have someone who could walk her through things like:  

• Getting started at Missouri State. 
• Preparing for tests and classwork. 
• Finding out if she had any learning disabilities. 
• Staying up to date on student opportunities. 
• Her personal concerns. 

“(Christina) stays very engaged in my life, so I hadn’t met with her for two weeks coming around finals week this past semester, and she still emailed me to ask me how my finals went and about specific classes that she knew I was struggling with,” Middleton said.  

Although Middleton is a stellar student in her own right, she gladly accepted study tips from Bowles. 

During one of their meetings, Bowles showed Middleton how to use Quizlet, a study website, to prepare for an upcoming final. 

“Those were simple ways to help and push you to make you want to do better,” Middleton said. “I definitely want to do better for myself, but it helps having someone you know believes in you and who you can just talk to who’s here, especially when your family is three hours away. It’s very, very needed.” 

In addition to classwork, Middleton works with her success coach to establish her future goals and to balance her coursework with her personal time. 

Middleton credits Bowles with boosting her confidence to ask professors questions and voice any of her concerns. 

“If I’m struggling with something, (Christina) would help me and push me towards communicating and engaging with others better in all different aspects, whether that’s socially or academically.”

A support system for a first-generation student

During her first semester living on campus, Middleton had many opportunities to engage with other students and dive deeper into her academics. 

One of her favorite events was Greek Street, a block party where all Missouri State students were welcome to learn about Panhellenic groups. Although Middleton isn’t currently in a sorority, she enjoyed getting to know active members. 

Jumping into her degree path, Middleton has already attended many student organizational meetings in the College of Business, including risk management and insurance clubs, as well as Women in Business. 

“There’s just a realm of fun things to do here, so I’m never bored,” she said. “I’ve never really had an interest in basketball or football, but here I am attending games and meeting new people and going out with my friends. I’ve always been a very social person, but I felt like even college would be a little bit harder for me. But, Missouri State has definitely made that easier.” 

Through Bowles’s influence, Middleton was able to expand her network and get plugged into the first-generation student community.  

Bowles would notify her about first-generation club events and opportunities, like study groups, crafting activities and breakfasts. 

“I think that having a success coach definitely helped me branch out more and understand that I’m not the only one who is a first-generation student.”

Currently, Middleton expects to graduate in May 2029, but she is looking into paths to graduate sooner. 

While a career in real estate is her clear-cut destination, she also hopes to give back to the foster care system in the future. 

Aside from potentially minoring in social work, she continues to look for ways she can be a present and helpful neighbor, which she says, are by “being there for the community, whether that’s fostering my own children or going out and helping in the community or just supporting my parents because they foster children.” 

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Photos by Kevin White