Kiah Duggins wants to help young women who are underserved and underrepresented apply for college and be successful in higher education.

To do that, Duggins, a third-year Wichita State student, created the Princess Project, a college readiness program that seeks to empower underserved high school girls through mentorship, community involvement and civic engagement.

It’s a project Duggins has worked on for nearly a year.

“It was inspired by my observation that a lot of underserved and underrepresented high school students in general — but specifically high school females — were not getting the resources that they needed to go through the college application process,” she said.

Duggins is majoring in international business and economics. She serves as chief of staff for Student Government Association, an ambassador for the Office of Diversity and Inclusion and vice president of finance for Student Ambassador Society.

African American and Hispanic females are underrepresented on college campuses, Duggins said. Those are the targeted demographics the Princess Project looks to serve, along with first-generation students and students with immigrant parents.

One of the main goals of the project is to help students through the college application process, Duggins said. She said another goal is to emphasize networking.

“[I’d like to] create a network of young women who are empowered through their interaction with each other and who can help each other out in the future,” Duggins said. “It’s about creating that community there and also about creating a larger community.”

Duggins is already working to get the project implemented at Wichita Southeast High School. She is talking with administrators there to implement the program, possibly as soon as January.

Friends and colleagues of Duggins said they are inspired by Duggins’ project and its goals.

“Saying, ‘Black girls can be princesses, too,’ women of color are beautiful, and they should be cared for in that light; I think it’s very interesting that she’s really trying to push that,” said Danielle Johnson, program coordinator for ODI.

Student Body President Joseph Shepard said he admires Duggins for taking the program to the Miss Kansas pageant and continuing to implement the project.

“I admire Kiah for this project and this program because she didn’t allow the ‘no’ from the Miss Kansas pageant to stop her from carrying out her initiative,” Shepard said. “[That] shows me and the rest of the student body that she is really passionate about ensuring that young minority women have the ability to achieve success through leadership.”

Matthew Conklin, former student body president, echoed Shepard’s sentiments.

“It makes it pretty clear she has the passion and drive to make an impact in the community and it wasn’t just [a] one-time deal,” Conklin said.

For Duggins, it’s all about pursuing something she is passionate about, which she encourages all WSU students to do.

“If you’re passionate about something, and you want to apply it [in] real life, I would encourage students to find avenues to do that,” she said. “I think that’s what our education is all about here, finding ways to take our passions and apply them in the real world.”