Ma’kayla Gray does not have any kids of her own yet, but she knows from her own educational experience that we need to fix a lot of things in Missouri schools and she is actively working to make those changes so that when she does have children they are guaranteed a quality education.
When Ma’kayla moved to St. Louis from San Diego in high school, she quickly discovered that her assigned district school was not a good fit for her educational needs.
Today, Ma’kayla is working with a non-profit, Bridge 2 Hope, to make sure that future generations will not have to go through what she went through.
In the past year, she has met countless parents who are seeing the same need for change and more educational options.
“You see a lot, especially in low-income areas, there is just that lack of choice,” she said. “Having those options for parents to say, hey this doesn’t work for my child, so I have a choice to move them somewhere else, I think is something that all parents deserve and it shouldn’t just be dictated by how much money you have. Learning isn’t a money problem learning is a right.
“Every parent wants the best for their child ,” she added. “Every parent wants a great education, so just keep fighting for that great education. It’s gonna take everybody to fix the problem that has been created in public education. It won’t just be one person, one group, one institution, it’s gonna take everyone coming together to make the changes that we need to see.”