At the age of nine, Mar’Quia Armour left her north side inner-city St. Louis home, as well as everyone and everything she knew, to start a new life in Columbia with her mother, brother, and twin sister.

“When we left St. Louis, we didn’t have anything,” Mar’Quia says. “We didn’t take anything with us. We just came home from school one day, and my Mom said we were leaving, and we got on a Greyhound bus that night. My mother was tired of St. Louis, especially the neighborhood we lived in. She felt Columbia was a better place to raise us, and it was.”

Although Columbia ultimately became a better environment to grow up in, the sudden move from St. Louis to Columbia was not easy for Mar’Quia or her family.

“When we got off the Greyhound bus, we called a cab, and since we had nowhere to go, the cab driver suggested the Salvation Army. We stayed there that night, and the next day we moved to the Women’s Abuse Shelter on Ash Street. We stayed there about four months before we were approved for public housing and moved to Park Street.”

Over time, the family got back on its feet, and Mar’Quia and her sister became involved in activities at the J.W. “Blind Boone” Community Center, which started an interest in community service work for Mar’Quia that she has continued ever since.
Mar’Quia, who is now 17 years old, has been both a participant and leader in community service projects in the eight years since she first moved to Columbia. She has been involved in Columbia’s CARE program, a teacher for younger youth at the Imani Mission Center, a volunteer at the J. W. “Blind Boone” Community Center, a volunteer with the Parks and Recreation Department walking with partially disabled residents at Paquin Towers, and a volunteer with both the Advent Now Community Partnership and the youth-oriented Fun City program.

“I see a lot of kids in Columbia, even 11 or 12 years old, who have juvenile officers, and I think to myself that something needs to be done, even if that’s just talking to them and telling them the opportunities they could have,” Mar’Quia says.

Mar’Quia also lives by example, using every opportunity possible to learn, better herself, and push herself to succeed. She is currently continuing in her second year of general education college classes at Moberly College while completing the last of her high school credits at Hickman High School in the mornings and working three jobs.

She also has clear goals for her academic and professional future. In addition to already receiving many scholarships toward her education, Mar’Quia is the president of Hickman’s MAC Scholars program, an honor roll student, a member of the TOPS program, and a previous participant in both Black Caucus and Youth Futures.

Mar’Quia has already been accepted to Tennessee State University, where she plans to major in psychology and minor in journalism and continue her college career through obtaining a doctorate. While there, she will be active in the ROTC program, and she will remain in the Army Reserves after graduation. She also plans to earn training as an automotive technician at a vocational school, but her ultimate ambition is to one day become a practicing psychiatrist.

Mar’Quia is grateful to the Columbia organizations and programs throughout the years that have provided her opportunities to better herself and give back to the community. That is why she is excited to participate in the P.R.I.D.E. effort and give Columbia’s youth another outlet for learning important skills and finding positive role models. She plans to continue her community service work, especially those activities involving youth, regardless of her extremely long list of activities, responsibilities and goals.

“I don’t feel like I’m obligated by anyone else to be involved in community service projects,” Mar’Quia says, “but I feel it’s mandatory for me to give back what was given to me, in any way that I can.”