Samantha Crawford, an 18-year-old high-school senior, doesn't
like to use the word "ghetto" to describe her neighborhood in the center of
Memphis, Tennessee, but she can't think of a better one. In Binghampton, people
drink and hang out. They are transient, moving from apartment to apartment and
job to job. Many don't work at all. Samantha speculates that few have finished
college, or even high school.
In the past two years, though, Samantha has begun to look at her
neighborhood as an inspiration. "It's not about where I stay, or
wherever I come from, but what I'm going to make of it," she says.
Samantha once earned only Bs and Cs. Now, she makes straight
As. She had dreamed of college, but wasn't sure how she'd get there. Now, she's
feeling overwhelmed by the choices available to her. In the past few months,
she received five college acceptance letters, along with a scholarship to a
local community college.
Read the full article from the Atlantic here.
No comments:
Post a Comment