Prom Dress Essay

“My ultimate goal in life is to spread love.” Nia Burton wrote that she recently got a job to help her family.

“My parents have a lot of bills and senior year is a big extra expense,” she wrote.

At lunchtime, the seniors — 11 girls — filtered into the classroom at the Humanity and Arts Academy of Los Angeles, an autonomous school on the campus of Narbonne High School in Harbor City.

They wore typical high school clothing: sweatshirts and leggings, T-shirts and ripped jeans.

Her mother always told her to “be the light in such a dim world.” “I know how it feels to lose hope,” she wrote.

“Girls need to know that they are beautiful and they are worth finding, worth knowing, worth loving.

“I also make sure kids know right from wrong, and make them feel as though whatever they do and say is important, because it is.”I asked her about the left lens of her tortoiseshell glasses, which was mended with white tape.“A couple weeks ago, my teammate was coming in for a layup when she bumped into me,” Chioma said. Chioma said she wasn’t sure how she would get there, but was thinking she might be able to pool her money with some friends for a limo ride.

“I fell and my glasses broke.”She can’t afford new glasses yet — her mom is unemployed — but burst out laughing when I asked if she planned to wear the broken ones to prom. It’s not clear where they’ll get the 0 limo fee, but these young women are not short on hope.

“I’ve been waiting for prom since I was 4 years old!

” said Nia Burton, who plans to attend Texas Southern University next year.