New Trier Girls' Soccer Player Grateful for Chance to Play

Sixteen-year-old Emily Miller, a member of the varsity girls' soccer team at New Trier High School, values the opportunity to play the sport that she loves. 

Miller, who knows that chance was not afforded to young women like her just 28 years ago at her own high school, was featured in an Associated Press article about the effects of Title IV, passed 40 years ago. 

"Soccer...is what makes me Emily Miller," she said in the article.

Miller, and hundreds of thousands of girls across the U.S., could take for granted what most of their counterparts just 40 years ago could not — the ability to take part in sports programs.

According to the United States Department of Labor website, Title IV, passed by Congress in 1972, required no individual be excluded from particpating in any type of educational program that receives federal finanancial support on the basis of sex or gender.  

That translated into sports programs as well as courses taught in the classroom. 

Though Congress passed the measure in the early 1970's, the changes weren't implemented at New Trier until 14 years later, the article reported. 

If you'd like to learn more about the effect Title IV had at just the time girls were allowed to participate in sports along with boys, read about AP Writer Martha Irvine's experience. 

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