Student: "It opened up everything for me" - stltoday.com

Ashley George wasn't planning to take the ACT or go to college. So she was shocked to open her results on the college entrance exam and see she had scored a 30 overall, well above the requirement for acceptance to most universities. George took the test as part of a new initiative in the Parkway School District that gives all students — not just those on the college track — the opportunity to take the entrance exam for free during school hours. "It opened up everything for me," said George, 18, who is now a senior at Fern Ridge, Parkway's nontraditional high school. "I never really thought I had that much potential."