WASHINGTON, D.C. — Erica Cohen had been seriously down on her luck when she found herself waiting for her number to be called in the public lottery held by SEED School of Washington, D.C.
She had recently lost her job as a kitchen aide at an area nursing home and subsequently experienced a bout of homelessness.
Her decision to try to get her daughter, DaShawn, enrolled at SEED was based on what she read about how the vast majority of SEED graduates had gone on to college.
“My scope is limited. I only have a high school diploma. There’s not that many jobs that I can get,” Cohen said. “I want her to get everything she can out of her education so she won’t have to struggle like I’m struggling now.”
Cohen got the beginning of her wish when her number — No. 52 — was literally the last number called for the 26 numbers in the girl’s half of the lottery.
“I was a little nervous,” Cohen said of hearing so many numbers called before hers. “Then she said the last number. I was like, ‘Oh, God.’ ”
The development means of the 150 students whose parents applied to SEED for the 2011-2012 school year, DaShawn is guaranteed a spot.
