Boarding Schools for Girls

Thinking about volunteering to help students at a local school or after-school program? The benefits of this activity may be even greater than you expect.

According to a new study from Washington University and Johns Hopkins University, older volunteers who help children learn provide benefits to themselves as well as the students,

• Researchers looked at the Experience Corps, a program in which 2,000 volunteers over 55 years old work with 20,000 students in 22 different cities.
  
• They found that students in the program gained 60 percent greater progress with reading comprehension and sounding out words compared to students not in the program.
  
• However, the researchers also found that the volunteers showed improved physical activity and health compared to adults of similar age and demographics.

Labels: tutor, mentoring

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A California sorority has created a program to help boost the self-esteem and achievement potential of adolescent girls. According to a Feb. 17 article by Jennie Rodriguez of recordnet.com, the sorority women are working with students in Stockton, Calif.:

Members of the Gamma Alpha Omega sorority at University of the Pacific started the program, White Roses, last year to help adolescent girls with educational and personal issues that may put them at risk of one day dropping out of high school.

Sorority members collaborated with Stockton Unified School District teachers to create a curriculum that's aimed at helping the girls become well-rounded. It entails leadership workshops, tutoring, mentorship and community service.

This year, the sorority is concentrating on Cleveland School.

For 13-year-old Ariel Raquel, the one-on-one attention she receives from the sorority sisters allows her to communicate her needs better. "They actually helped me a lot, especially with homework," said Raquel, an eighth-grade student.

Labels: mentoring, girls education

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Nearly a century and a half after it was established, a program to empower girls and young women continues to employ innovative efforts to help participants overcome obstacles and achieve personal and professional successes.

Michaele Weissman profiled Girls Inc. in the Winter 2009 edition of ForbesWomen magazine:

Girls Inc [is] a national research, education and advocacy organization. The 145-year-old nonprofit was founded during the Industrial Revolution to help young women who migrated from rural areas to work in textile mills and factories.

Today Girls Inc. programs and efforts are focused on the problems that continue to limit the aspirations of girls, especially those who grow up poor.

Three-quarters of the group's members come from families with incomes of $30,000 or less, and nearly 70 percent are minorities. Half of them come from single-parent households. &

Girls Inc. programs teach young women how to resist peer pressure, respect their bodies and their health, prevent teen pregnancy and excel in math, science and technology.

Labels: mentoring, math, technology, science

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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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A 2002 attempt to introduce incarcerated girls in Atlanta, Georgia, to the benefits of writing and acting has blossomed into a multi-faceted therapeutic endeavor that organizers hope will help participants transcend their troubles and pursue healthier and more productive futures.

Autumn Bond-Ross described the program in a June 14 article on the SundayPaper website:

Five minutes ago, they were giggling and roughhousing, just like any other fresh-faced young girls. Now, the tone at the South Bend Center for Art and Culture has turned serious, even haunting. The girls stomp their feet in unison to a staccato beat, and begin chanting a cappella:

"Violence -- it's everywhere/ Though it seems no one gives a care/ A bullet in the head, a fallen friend/ Will this ever end?/ An innocent life just gone -- taken/ In this nightmare that dont awaken."

More powerful lyrics follow, each more poignant and shocking than the last. The room is quiet. Some audience members tear up; others have goose bumps.

This is a normal occurrence at Playmaking for Girls, an empowering theater program for incarcerated and at-risk girls. Kids in this age group are usually known for being boy-crazy and obsessing over Beyonce's latest single, but tonight these girls are using the power of their own voices to confront disturbing social issues.

"PFGs original focus on working with Georgia [Regional Youth Detention Centers] remains," Bond-Ross reported. "But since [2002], it has expanded to include after-school programs for at-risk teens, a summer follow-up for girls who were previously incarcerated, and a satellite program targeting junior-high and high school teachers. Plans for a mentoring program are also underway."

Labels: mentoring, girls, theater

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