[kiml122]

I'm going to choose Education and Development, and here are some of my reasons.

I volunteer with the Delta Academy with my local DST alumnae chapter and I am hear to tell you that these young girls really need guidance. The area that the chapter has adopted is a low income area, and I truly love helping out in the area. When we have our meetings some of the girls are just to "flip with the mouth" as my grandmother use to say.

You can really tell that a lot of these girls come from families where they get no attention at home, and the attention that they are getting is not what they should be getting if you know what I'm trying to say. I constantly hear them belittling one another. I had a case the other day where one of the girls wanted to make sure that I didn't have a daughter out in the group before she started to make fun of one little girls "wig" that she had on. Yes she had on a wig and it was a mess. Apparently the girls father cut her hair and messed it up and made her wear this wig. She was laughed at in school all day. Some of the girls said that her hair got caught in the door in school, so you know laughter was all over the room after this.

I like spending time with these girls, to show them that they can survive, and that they do have someone that cares about them and their well being. I wonder if thigns are ok when they missed a class. A lot of them say all the time, why do you care if I dont' show up. I simple state that again I have come to know them, and I worry when they are not there. One little girl asked me "why you care when my mom doesn't even care". I grew up in a close family and I trip when I hear girls talking about how they are left home alone all the time, or that their mother or father (if there is one in the house) doesn't even talk to them at all.

I feel that we have to let our youth know that they do make a difference, and that they will be missed if they are not there. I also feel that they should know that they can grow up and also make a difference in someone's life as well.

Sorry for the long post.