For Teachers, Teen Plans Lessons in Empathy Connect for Kids: "Published: May 16, 2005
by: Ashley Keiran
When Ashley Keiran of Portland, Maine entered foster care at age 14, she kept it quiet. 'I really didn't tell very many people about my situation. I was very hush-hush,' remembers Keiran. Then, in her sophomore year of high school, life got crazy. 'I told a few people I trusted, including teachers. And they were fantastic. They were supportive. They realized why I didn't always have my homework in exactly on time.'
Keiran, now a 19-year-old senior, is off to Skidmore College in Ithaca, New York this fall � something she attributes in part to support from the �cheerleaders� she has found in school and in life since becoming more open about her living situation.
So, as a parting gift to her school, and with help from Laurie Davis, an adult friend of Keiran's who is also the No Child Left Behind coordinator for Portland schools, and with money from a youth leadership development grant, Keiran is preparing to design and lead two training sessions for Portland High teachers on the educational challenges faced by teens who are homeless or in foster care.
Youthink: Empowering Portland Teens
Keiran's project is one of five student-proposed projects funded over a year ago by Youthink, an 18-member student board that considered applications from young Portland residents proposing projects"
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