Nine Bowen High School Students Will Visit The White House
(CBS) -- It's called Working on Womanhood, or WOW. It's a four-year-old program that this year will make history.
CBS 2's Mike Puccinelli reports.
Brittany Henry is going to Washington, and Jacqueline Perlman is going to make sure she and her classmates in the WOW counseling program are White House-ready.
"It's completely about feeling confident," Perlman says.
Confident enough to make history. Because these nine young women from Bowen High School are the first WOW students ever to be invited to the White House to meet the first lady.
"It seems like a dream," Jade Watkins says.
"I'm really excited. I'm kind of nervous," sophmore Najae Oshibanjo says.
To help with that nervousness, My Favorite Outfit is allowing these young students to pick out six clothing items for free from a pop-up boutique set up right here in their school.
WOW targets young, at-risk women who often come from some of the city's toughest neighborhoods. Doretha Brown is the counselor who first told the WOW ladies they were going to meet the first lady and the young women were overjoyed.
Imani Sheppard didn't always think she was deserving of such an honor. But WOW has taught her to visualize her goals and keep her emotions in check.
After the ladies were decked out in their White House fashions, they talked with Tina Richardson, who shows them the finer points of social etiquette.
"I hope the main takeaway for the girls is for the girls to see that when they put their best foot forward, work on themselves as young women, work on their academics, that anything is possible," WOW program manager Gail Day says.
Students leave for Washington in mid-February. So far, about 2,000 young women have signed up for the counseling program.
