KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Probably dozens of teenage girls like Marie Sanders are out there, not expecting help, maybe even thinking they don’t deserve it.
But help is coming, whether girls in the Kansas City School District are ready for it or not.
The volunteers in a local nonprofit called Awesome Ambitions are persistent, and Sanders is sure girls like her will be better for it.
Time was when the 17-year-old senior at Central High School was counting all the reasons that success was out of her reach. Now she’s counting potential college choices.
“Xavier University, Jackson State (University), the University of Alabama,” she said.
When she had started high school in the ninth grade, her life at home and in school was unstable, Sanders said.
“I always wanted to go to college, but I didn’t think it was possible. It was a dream, not a reality.”