Coby, the girl I'm mentoring this year, has played first flute since junior year. She plays four instruments: piano, violin, flute and piccolo. And she composes music.

All of her musical instruments were loaned by schools because her parents are low income. Her mother and stepfather Jeremy are school dropouts.

Coby plans to become a surgeon. She has excellent grades. So far I helped her apply to four colleges. Next up: apply for 50 scholarships.

Yesterday I advocated for Coby with a wealthy psychologist I dated. Gregg paid for an intermediate flute and collapsible music stand for Coby. Since I play flute, I selected the flute and music stand. Gregg had them shipped to me. I will give them to Coby.

I looked up the 10 best quality intermediate flutes. Coby will get one.

Flutes are sold as beginner (9 keys), intermediate (14 keys) for high school and college students, and professional flutes for $4,000 and up.

Coby is the product of a one-night stand when her mother was 19. "We lived in a soft valley in southern Oregon," she wrote in her personal statement for college. "My grandmother was my source of stability. Grandma taught me math, English, and history. She bought me a musical keyboard. We lived in Grandma's house with my mother's teenage siblings."

"Go to college," her grandma urged Coby. "You need to escape our family cycle of poverty and abuse." One of Coby's uncles was a heroin addict.

"When I was eight, Mom pulled me into an empty room. "Do you want to leave today or tomorrow?" she asked. "I felt shocked and frightened. The next day, we drove six hours with Mom's boyfriend Jeremy to Seaside, Oregon."

Their first home was a hotel room with one bed. Jeremy cruelly refused to let Coby sleep on the bed, calling her a "dirty kid." He made her sleep on the floor. Jeremy continued criticizing Coby, resulting in her becoming withdrawn, quiet and reserved.

Since childhood, Coby has written a journal. When she was 13, she realized Jeremy's verbal abuse was him pushing his insecurity onto her. She stopped listening to him. When her little sister was born, Jeremy shifted his focus to the baby. Now her little sister is seven.

Playing flute comforts and soothes Coby. I feel happy that she will have her own flute to take to college and carry forward in life.