“I thought that the community didn't expect much of me, so that meant I didn't show them much of myself.”

Claudia felt like an outcast in school - a minority that nobody cared about. Failing classes and withdrawing from society, she was on a terrible path. But thanks to the Whyld Girls program, funded by United Way's ELI she learned that she could create her own path and help herself and other young women succeed. Claudia went on to college, and after graduate school hopes to work as a high school counselor to help teens find their own paths to success.