Maria’s hopes rest on a DREAM

“Five years ago, I wrote about Maria, a fresh high-school graduate who punctuated her talk about future plans with an occasional teenage giggle.

Though she had a University of Washington acceptance letter, Maria’s future was not so bright. Maria ”” not her real name ”” had been living in the United States illegally since her parents brought her here at age 5. Thanks to the state Legislature’s 2006 decision, students in Maria’s predicament could pay lower in-state tuition ”” she could afford her degree. She graduated with a GPA north of 3.5 and honors in her department.

Now the girl is a shrewd and gutsy woman at the start of her second year at a Puget Sound area law school. Last week when we talked, she requested to do a pre-publication review of my column.”

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