Sisters make good on pledge to graduate

For every child living in a two-parent home with all his needs taken care of, there is at least one other child struggling to make his way in a society that can seem unfair.

The second scenario is the case for most teenagers being educated at the Alternative Education Center in Cape Girardeau. It offers a last chance for students in danger of dropping out and losing their opportunity to have fulfilling careers and successful families of their own.

And that's the case for twin sisters Tonya and Sonya Sinn, who graduated Friday and thus kept a promise they made to their dying father.

The girls are 19, living on their own and working nights at a nursing home to pay the bills. Their short lives have included divorce, death, abandonment and moves from relative to relative.

They aren't angels. Few children at the Alternative Education Center are. There's a reason all of them are at the center instead of in their regular schools.

But everyone deserves a chance, and the Sinn sisters can be proud of grabbing hold of theirs. They shouldn't let go until they've accomplished all they want in life.