Dropping out of school--and the concomitant failure to graduate with a high school diploma--form a "silent epidemic" in the United States today. "Nationally, research puts the graduation rate between 68 and 71 percent, which means that almost one-third of all public high school students in America fail to graduate" or drop out (Bridgeland, DiIulio & Morison, 2006, p. 1). The state of Colorado is no exception. A 2004 study by the Urban Institute Educational Policy Center pegs the national graduation rate at 68%; Colorado's graduation rate comes in at 69% (Swanson, 2004b, pp. 38, 48). Both nationally and in Colorado, the differences between the graduation rates for young women and young men are also similar: nationally, 72% of girls graduate, as opposed to 64% of boys, while in Colorado, the female graduation rate is 72.9% as compared to a 65.1% for male students (Swanson, 2004, pp. 38, 48). The purpose of this exploratory study is to begin to probe what might be called almost half of the dropout problem in Colorado. What makes girls drop out? Conversely, what might work to keep them going to school? (Contains 4 figures, 7 tables, and 12 footnotes.)