“I can’t show them to the police – he says he’ll destroy my family.” Photos of a bruised face and red, nearly broken fingers. Concealer covered the marks he left in shades of blue, purple, and green. The National Coalition Read More
Category: Stories
I Should Have Done Something
To this day, I continue to think about what I should have done that day in that restaurant. Yet, I just sat there staring at this young woman, frozen with disbelief and hesitation. She had dark lifeless eyes and, in Read More
Connecting Education and Opportunity: My Observations Overseas
I grew up comfortably on the upper edge of the middle class. Privilege was the filter on the lens through which I viewed the world. For me, education was available, and opportunity abundant. Still, I realized most people traveled a Read More
The Words I Needed to Hear
One evening over dinner, when I was 16 years old, my family’s conversation took an unusual turn. There was nothing remarkable about the circumstances to that point. As usual, I was planted in my seat, all eyeshadow and angst, thinking Read More
What Our Volunteers Say
Every year, we invite our most active supporters to take part in one of the most rewarding volunteer experiences we offer. By helping to judge applications for our annual Live Your Dream: Education & Training Awards for Women, volunteers get to decide Read More
What Inspires Me to Take Action
Opportunity for girls through education is unbelievably important to me. I am proud to be an educated young woman in today’s society where I can stand on my own two feet, be independent, and voice my own opinions. Education has given Read More
I Am Worthy: Learning to Live Again
My struggle with low self-esteem begins and ends with me. However, there were other people who either knowingly, or unintentionally, had an impact on how I felt about myself as a woman. I made mistakes and I had to recognize Read More
The Next One in Line: Setting Girls Up for Science Success
Imagine a girl. Right now she’s sitting in her first-grade classroom, her coat is hung in the colorful cubbies that line the wall, an alphabet rug lies in the back corner near the windows, and the scent of crayons lingers Read More
April Lee Hernandez on Self Worth and Abuse
When you are in an abusive relationship and you see the signs that things are going downhill and you don’t do anything about it, it begins to fester. Moment by moment you accept it and plant the seed that can Read More
“I Am A Survivor of Teen Dating Violence” – April Lee Hernandez
Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think I would be the girl to end up in an abusive relationship, especially because I did not grow up in an abusive home. Which is the stigma that accompanies abuse; we Read More