Boarding Schools for Girls

In the aftermath of a debate over whether or not to open a boys-only school in Toronto, Canada, the citys education director has revealed plans to develop a mentoring program for female students.

An Oct. 25 article by Jenny Yuen of Sun Media provided the following details on the potential for a girls program in Toronto:

After much heated debate over the possibility of boys-only schools earlier this week, Toronto public schools might be getting a girls-only mentoring program, according to a Twitter post from Chris Spence, Toronto District School Board's education director.

In the Tweet, Spence writes: "Soon we'll be launching the Girls Only initiative. Stay tuned for more information!"

"It makes sense to do this for the girls, to provide them with some strong role models," Spence told the Sunday Sun yesterday. "We haven't brought it forward just yet and part of our plan is to launch it in November."

The program -- called Project G.O. (Girls Only) -- will be brought to the board next month and its purpose is to provide positive role models for girls.

Labels: mentoring, girls, canada

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Greg Mortenson, an unofficial advisor to the U.S. military and the co-author of Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace. . . One School at a Time, has been included in U.S. News & World Reports list of Americas Best Leaders 2009.

In an Oct. 22 article, writer Anna Mulrine describes Mortensens efforts to achieve peace in Afghanistan by increasing opportunities for girls to access quality education:

Pennies for Peace will be in some 20,000 schools next year, giving rise to what Mortenson hopes will become a new generation of leaders in the United States who will take up the cause of global education.

"Women who have an education are not likely to condone their son getting into violence," he says. "I've seen that very vividly."

In Afghanistan in 2000, there were 800,000 children in school, nearly all boys. Today, there are 8.4 million children in school, including 2.5 million girls.

"That's the greatest increase in school enrollment of any country in modern history, but very few people in America seem to be aware of it." Mortenson hopes to remedy that through his work in the years to come.

Labels: afghanistan, girls, peace

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In an Oct. 21 article on www.advocateweekly.com, writer Nichole Dupont reports on author Rachel Simmons' view that destructive all or nothing thinking dooms many young girls to feeling like failures when they cant achieve perfection:

"What girls need is a careful balance between self-concept and the mistakes they will inevitably make. That is, a girl's fierce denial suggests a refusal to admit a mistake into her idea of who she is, a slamming and bolting of an internal door," [Simmons] said.

Girls regard their mistakes as problems with themselves, not as opportunities to learn and grow. Therefore, when a girl gets a less-than-stellar grade on an essay, she will, in most cases, immediately jump to the conclusion that the teacher doesn't like her. In the same vein, if a girl makes a bad play on the soccer field, she will assume that her teammates hate her.

These assumptions that girls make about others lead to distorted thinking in which "being nice at all costs (is) the prime directive" of the "Good Girl."

The extremes to which girls go to be perfect, both physically and socially, lead to "all-or-nothing thinking" in which any failure a girl experiences is interpreted as "catastrophic."

Simmons is the author of Odd Girl Out: The Hidden Culture of Aggression in Girls and The Curse of the Good Girl: Raising Authentic Girls with Courage and Confidence.

Labels: parenting, self-esteem, daughters

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Working under the guidance of one of their peers, 30 students from a Quaker day and boarding school in Great Britain decorated and displayed a rainbow of umbrellas during a peace vigil during the nations Quaker Schools Week.

An Oct. 14 article in The York Press provided the following details about the project:

Anna Webster, 17, a pupil at The Mount School, in Dalton Terrace, said she was inspired to run a silent vigil in which about 30 participants carried umbrellas featuring all the colours of the spectrum, after learning about Matt Lamb Umbrellas For Peace Project  which promotes inclusivity.

She said: I thought that it would be a really positive thing for people to do; individuals could think about what peace means to them, and all stand and support each other in our views with a silent vigil. It could be a striking statement about our commitment to peace and also a lot of fun."

Labels: great britain, art, boarding schools, peace

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According to an Oct. 8 article by Lisa Newell of Florida's Gulf Breeze News, a day program on the campus of Florida's Pensacola Junior College is having success in the effort to help struggling girls turn their lives around:

The PACE program is housed on campus at Pensacola Junior College, where the 53 girls attend classes daily from 7:30 to 2 p.m. Eligible girls range from 11 years old, or sixth graders, to 18 years old. Many problems are identified as early as middle school, and the PACE program seeks to intervene before problems get out of control.

One girl who is enrolled in the program told the board that before attending the PACE Center, her school days were punctuated with fights and she didn't understand the importance of attending school. Her grades were all F's and she got a referral to the dean's office every day.

After six months enrolled in the PACE program, her attitude turned around completely. She was the student of the month with a 3.7 grade point average.

"I am constantly inspired by staff and students," program volunteer Brenda Vigodsky told Newell. "The staff truly cares about each and every girl's future. Because of this support, the girls begin to believe in themselves, acquire confidence and begin the journey to become contributing members of society."

Labels: florida, day school

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After 110 years of all-female leadership, Pomona Catholic High School, a private Catholic girls school in southern California, recently welcomed its first male principal.

An Oct. 7 article by Monica Rodriguez of the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin provided the following details about the landmark event:

Samuel Torres is the first male principal at the all-girl Pomona Catholic High School, but his gender is not what makes him stand out to students or parents. As far as students are concerned, the principal "could be an alien from outer space" as long as that person "does a good job," said Dani Rose Meave-Cateril, the school's student body president. ...

One of his goals is to attract more students to the school, which has a 197-member student body. One way that will be accomplished is by creating the best college preparatory curriculum possible, which is being done by contacting the nation's top colleges, Torres said.

The information gathered will be used to build up and create a more rigorous academic program, he said. Torres also plans to work with parochial middle schools so children and their families can begin thinking of college and what they must do to prepare for it, he said.

Labels: catholic, private school

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A private girls school in Virginia has received what the school claims is the largest single donation in the history of private girls schools. An Oct. 14 press release provided the following details about the donation:

Chatham Hall, an internationally renowned girls' boarding school, has received a $31 million gift from the estate of alumna Elizabeth Beckwith Nilsen, Class of 1931. This is the largest single gift to any girls' independent school.

According to Dr. Gary Fountain, Rector and Head of Chatham Hall, "Mrs. Nilsen's gift is transformational for the School. What remarkable generosity,and what a powerful statement about women supporting girls' education. Mrs. Nilsen's generosity is a head of school's dream."

Mrs. Nilsen directed that her gift be placed into an unrestricted endowment fund. Her gift came to Chatham Hall following the death of Mrs. Nilsen's husband, Robert A. Nilsen, in March 2009. Mrs. Nilsen, who predeceased her husband, died in October 2006.

Labels: single-sex education, girls, private school

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Conference Promotes Financial Awareness, Entrepreneurship Among Girls

About 100 teen girls from schools in and around New York City are learning about finance and entrepreneurship this week at a conference sponsored by Guardian Life Insurance Company of America. An Oct. 12 press release provided the following details about the "Girls Going Places Entrepreneurship Conference":

During the event, New York women business leaders will mentor girls ages 12 through 18 about entrepreneurship, using the conference as a platform for inspiring and encouraging teen girls to pursue their own entrepreneurial endeavors -- from starting non-profits or authoring books to launching new products or managing a business. ...

During the interactive conference, local business women will guide the girls through various activities such as "Hot Company," an entrepreneurial board game that introduces girls to the advantages and challenges of owning one's own business.

They will also team up for an exercise called "Product-in-a-Box," in which they will have the opportunity to design a product and present a marketing plan. The mentors will share their experiences as successful women in business.

Speakers scheduled to attend the conference include Michelle Paige Paterson (wife of NY Gov. David Paterson), Jennifer Raab (President of Hunter College of CUNY), and Howard Elias (Chairman & CEO of Wealth Advisory Group).

According to the Guardian Life website, within the next 12 months "Girls Going Places" conferences are scheduled for West Palm, Jacksonville, and Ft. Myers, Fla.; Pittsburgh, Pa.; Minneapolis, Minn.; and Union NY.

Labels: finance, conference, business

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In her research into relational aggression among adolescent girls, Dianna Murray-Close, an assistant professor of psychology at the University of Vermont, has discovered that the prevalence of this behavior peaks during middle childhood, and can cause significant social and emotional damage to girls who are involved.

According to an Oct. 7 article on the UVM website, Murray-Close hopes that her studies can lead to techniques that can significantly improve the lives of young girls:

In an article in the International Journal of Psychophysiology, Murray-Close used results of tests she conducted on heart rate assessment, blood pressure and sympathetic nerve system activity among 5th graders to show that heightened cardiac reactivity to provocation is associated with relational forms of aggression among girls.

She's convinced that if girls can control their reactions at the point of increased cardiac activity, they can prevent committing acts of relational aggression.

"We have girls re-live a stressor and measure how their body reacts," she says. "One of the arguments here is that if you are someone who gets very physically worked up, this may be apre -disposition to then respond to aggression. Ultimately, I'd like to develop some coping skills for girls. There's been a lot of research on physical aggression, especially among boys, but not much on what to do about relational aggression. You'd like to think your research will ultimately help children."

Labels: aggression, adolescents, research

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A new public school within the Los Angeles Unified School District has the unique designation of being the only LAUSD school to provide single-sex classrooms for all academic subjects.

According to an Oct. 5 article by Los Angeles Times staff writer Connie Llanos, the only time the 750 students who attend Young Oak Kim Academy Middle School will be in a mixed-gender environment will be during lunch:

"This is yet another element of reform," school board President Monica Garcia said. "We have to try as many strategies as possible to see what helps our students excel and grow ... We cannot continue to do one-size-fits-all."

A three-year study conducted by Stetson University in Florida found that ... students in all-girl classes earned a 75 percent score, compared with 59 percent proficiency among girls in coed classes.

At YOKA, educators have taken the program a step further, creating separate lesson plans for boys and girls.

Because research shows that adolescent girls thrive in groups and learn well in lectures, teachers at YOKA assign the girls a lot of collaborative projects. There's also an emphasis on math, science and technology [for girls] because girls traditionally do not pursue these fields as aggressively as boys do.

Labels: single-sex education, public-schools

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The digital age is upon us, and young people have embraced it whole-heartedly. They chat, text, IM and tweet; and they do it all via their cell phones. Its convenient, but also problematic for parents whose teens never seem to unplug.

In an Oct. 1 Associated Press article, parents indicated that they are experimenting with various means of controlling their children's technology use in a way that encourages positive interactions without giving rise to parent-child confrontations:

We all know teens love their gadgets -- more for texting than talking. But the devices are posing some new challenges for parents. How can they teach their tech-savvy kids some electronic etiquette?

So far, parents are learning on the fly, imposing new rules for their young offenders such as "no texting at dinner." ...

It's not only cell phones that parents are restricting.

Many are establishing control over their children's computer use -- setting themselves up as administrators for Internet accounts, asking kids questions about who they are communicating with online, and at times looking directly over their shoulders at the screen.

Labels: technology, computers, texting, communication

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In an article that appeared in the Sept. 30 edition of the Chicago Tribune, Joanna Broder explored the risk of violence and depression among girls and women in Illinois:

A report released earlier this month found that many girls in Chicago and Illinois "face serious violence in their lives," including physical and sexual abuse, threats and injury in school, and assault on the streets.

The report, "Status of Girls in Illinois," notes that 10.7 percent of girls in Chicago's high schools skipped school in 2007 because of safety concerns -- nearly double the national average of 5.6 percent -- and that "many girls also report a pervasive feeling of threat and lack of security."

The report pulls together existing survey data about girls in Chicago and Illinois and makes recommendations about a variety of development, health and wellness issues such as access to health care, mental and emotional health, sexuality, safety and substance abuse.

It also found that depression and other forms of mental illness pose a serious health issue for area girls.

Labels: violence, depression, research

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The students of one of New York's most successful girls' schools hosted a special guest Sept. 21, when the queen of Jordan paid a visit. Darragh Worland reported on the queen's visit to East Harlem's Young Women's Leadership School in a Sept. 27 article on the website Tonic.com:

Her Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah of Jordan ... who has been UNICEFs Eminent Advocate for Children since 2007, joined UNICEF Executive Director Ann M. Veneman to discuss the role education plays in improving childrens lives.

For the past nine years straight, every single graduate of the Young Womens Leadership School, the nation's first girls-only public school, has been admitted to institutes of higher education. In her address to the students, Queen Rania emphasized the need for the young leaders to pay it forward.

I want you, girls with voices, to speak up and shout out for girls whose cries fall silent, said HM Queen Rania. I want you to fight for them, as others are fighting for you. I want you to pull up another girl, and help her stand tall and strong. I want you to be great, and inspire greatness in others.

Labels: international, girls, private school

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In her Sept. 29 article on the website Tonic.com, Katherine Gustafson reported that attendees at the recently completed annual meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative had made a number of commitments that could significantly improve the lives of women and girls.

The following were three of the commitments that Gustafson cited:

• Pharmaceutical giants Merck and Qiagen have launched a new project to prevent cervical cancer by providing at least 1.5 million girls and 1.5 million women access to HPV vaccines and HPV DNA tests.
• Sustainable Health Enterprises will make sure one million girls and women in Africa get access to cheap, environmentally friendly sanitary pads and education on health and hygiene by 2012.
• Plan USA and partners are taking on a three-year project to train 140 adolescent Ghanaian girls in journalism and media production to help them speak out against gender discrimination.

Labels: international, conference, HPV

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