A New Mentoring Program for Middle and H.S. Girls!

We are pleased to announce a new Empire State Virtual Branch Leadership program for middle and high school girls as part of the New York State Project, Leadership: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow. Leadership, character development, feminism, advocacy and philanthropy are all essential parts of this project. We are calling this piece of the project, “Standing Tall with Eleanor and Michelle.” This project is being funded by the Empire State Virtual Branch and a $500 grant for AAUW NYS.

Three on site visits of 90 minutes are planned with our coalition partners – Kechie’s Project Outreach Schools Bronx NY, YWCA of Yonkers and Mary J Blige Center in Yonkers. Varied formats are being developed to accommodate school and vacation schedules as well ages of our participants. This project come out of Phase 3 of the NY/NJ AAUW WILD Project this summer.

Here are the topics we are planning to develop through this program:

Discover your favorite Eleanor quote?
Find a favorite quote from Michelle Obama that speaks to you.
What leadership characteristics (virtues) do they share?
Explore their pet projects
Discuss First Lady “Firsts”
Compare/Contrast these first ladies
Just the Facts – biographical information
Focus on feminism – was ER a feminist? Michelle?
How did each first lady support women and girls?
Eleanor’s crowning achievement was the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Why was this so important for her?
What do you think Michelle Obama’s greatest achievement is so far? What might she do in the future?
Investigate “Let Girls Learn” Why is this initiative so important?
In 2012, the United Nations created two new celebrations – International Day of the Girl (October 11^th) and International Day of Happiness (March 20^th). How do these new celebrations connect to these two first ladies?
How did each first lady advocate for? What is an advocate? How does one advocate?
Where they philanthropists? What is the classic definition of a philanthropist? What is the new meaning of this word?
What has/had heart and meaning for these two extraordinary women? What has heart and meaning for you?
Do you consider Eleanor and/or Michelle a role model?
Reflect on all the individuals you do consider role models. List them.
What has surprised you in this study? What has inspired you?
What has challenged you? What has touched your heart?

Rationale:
“Girls on the Go” is a great way to introduce young women and girls to AAUW as well as for the Empire State Virtual Branch to work with new coalition partners. Public transportation plus entry fees will be covered for girls and their teachers for events held in the NY metropolitan area. Here are the events we will encourage these girls to attend:

AAUW NYS District V Conference in NYC on October 3^rd, 2015 at New York Institute of Technology, “Focus on Feminism: Near & Far, Past & Present”
CTAUN Conference at the United Nations on January 22^nd, 2016. This year’s theme is : Stewardship for a Sustainable World: Education in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
United Nations Annual Report on Happiness in celebration of International Day of Happiness on March 20^th
Attendance at parallel events for Committee on the Status of Women during the first two weeks in March
Explore Your Opportunities Conference hosted by Westchester American Association of University Women and Empire State Virtual Branch at College of Mt. St. Vincent on April 16^th, 2016

Participants would be asked to share their learning with their classmates or write an article for the our newsletter, The ESVB Times. A suggested format for both the discussion and article could be: What surprised you at this event? What inspired you? What challenged you? What touched your heart?

If you would like to join the Girls on the Go Committee, please email Joan Monk at ftmaven@gmail.com.