RBG Scholarship offered to MPS women of color interested in law school

MILWAUKEE - The Milwaukee Public Schools Foundation is honoring a legal powerhouse while helping young minority women find their own success. It's an effort to help high school seniors pave their way. 

A pioneer for gender equality, Ruth Bader Ginsburg was an inspiration for many. 

"I have a passion and advocacy for law. My dream is to become an attorney," Kayla Denyce Jimenez said.

Kayla Denyce Jimenez

Jimenez, an 18-year-old senior at Ronald Reagan College Prep High School, has been working hard to reach her goal, and a new program from the Milwaukee Public Schools Foundation could help get her there.

"We know there are people ready to help them, so we need to provide that extra component, which is the monetary piece, and attaching them to citizens that can help them," MPS Foundation Executive Director Wendell Willis said.

The collaboration with the Milwaukee Bar Association, Marquette University Law School and the University of Wisconsin Law School is aimed at helping more MPS young women of color enter the field of law.

Wendell Willis

"It's important to have that representation," Willis said. "For the undergraduate component, we’ll give you $2,000 a year for your undergraduate years, for four years, and $10,000 a year for your three years of law school. $38,000 is really what the package would afford somebody," he said.

At a time where the coronavirus pandemic has affected economics in many ways, the Ruth Bader Ginsburg Scholarship helps provide equity and empowerment. 

"I'm really excited to be able to be a part of it and apply," Jimenez said. "I am so appreciative."

Kayla Jimenez

It's an opportunity where young women can make their own legacy.

"In the future, Women’s History Month, we are celebrating the accomplishments of people actually happening in real-time at the moment because of the women that have led the way and have been pioneers," Willis said.