Teen Talk 6-5
Meet Ashley LaMantia and her 2-year-old son Robert Anthony. In elementary school, she dreamed of being the first woman president. In middle school, it was a kindergarten teacher. By 16, Ashley LaMantia had dropped out of Canton High School, too busy partying to attend class. Today, at 24, she’s unemployed, feeding her 2-year-old son with food stamps and searching for a job that doesn’t call for a high school diploma.


Michigan Army National Guard Maj. Shawn Harris and Sgt. Maj. David Marshall observe firing on an M-203 grenade launcher range at Camp Grayling, MI as part of training for a deployment to Afghanistan to serve with an Embedded Training Team to train the Afghan National Army on September 20, 2006. The ETT has the mission to train the Afghan Nation Army in U.S. doctrine and tactics to enable the ANA to take over military operations in Afghanistan from U.S. and NATO forces. Photo by Sgt. 1st Class Wilson Tang