GEORGETOWN DAY HIGH SCHOOL’S 1GIRL PROGRAM STARTS STRONG

Written By Sophie Hurewitz

Georgetown Day High School girls are again partnering with Janney Elementary in their after-school enrichment program for the 2017-2018 school year. When my group of high school mentors and I met our cohort of 3rd and 4th graders for the fall session, we immediately recognized some familiar faces; more than half of the girls enrolled in our program participated last year in our spring session! They returned to 1girl this fall excited to continue discussions about strength, leadership, and confidence, and to consider new topics such as social dynamics and independence. Their enthusiasm and passion for the 1girl mission was contagious – the new members of our group quickly became active participants, and a renewed collaboration emerged among the girls and their high school mentors.

On our first day together, we made personalized headbands instead of name tags. Each girl wrote their name using their favorite colors, and drew a picture of their favorite thing. We learned about Maddie’s love for emojis, how Nicky loves rainbows, and that Zoe loves Hershey’s Kisses. This activity was a positive way for the girls to make connections with one another and also to celebrate their individuality.

This fall we have also added a new journaling period to our meetings. Every week we ask the girls to take a few moments to write about something they are proud of, looking forward to, or anything else that may come to their minds. We know that encouraging the girls to take the time for self-reflection is important as a developing life skill, and our 3rd and 4th graders have voiced how much they like journaling about our time together in 1girl.

Additional plans for this session include facilitated discussions in response to questions submitted by the girls to our Question Jar, creating a new 1girl group song, and continuing our traditions of designing t-shirts, beading bracelets, and drawing self-portraits as activities to support our 1girl curriculum.

We cannot wait to see what the winter session will bring for 1girl in D.C.!

(Pictured from left to right: Maddie, Abby, Nicky, and Claire, some of our 4th graders, rocking the headbands we decorated.)