GENaustin Opens Its Doors and Heart

In the clubGEN classroom at the Ann Richards School, twelve girls sit on the edges of their chairs. The chairs are arranged in a circle surrounding one girl who stands in the middle. Hand on hip, the girl in the center surveys the eager faces of her peers, who wait with anticipation. She bites her lip and says, "Um... I dunno... um... Oh! All my neighbors who have summer birthdays!" No one moves and her face drops. Before her frustration can set in, one seated girl stands up, saying, "Well, January is summertime in Australia!" The girl in the center smiles and bounds over to take the newly empty seat. The game continues and the girls, who were strangers only ten minutes before, are now giggling and talking in a chorus of adolescent chatter. The girls participated in this sample clubGEN activity, intended to break the ice and help them get to know each other better, in the presence of parents and volunteers.

As some watch the girls interact in the classroom, volunteers, parents, high school and middle school girls, community members, and staff mingle in the office amongst overflowing plates of food and brightly colored decorations that proclaim a few of the core values and key messages of GENaustin: Peer Assisted Learning, Diversity, Workforce Development, Academic Success, Girl Focused, and Earning Power. Such phrases set the optimistic tone for what turned out to be a successful night of education and celebration.

This was the scene at GENaustin's Open House on the evening of Tuesday October 23rd. The event celebrated GENaustin's new headquarters at the Ann Richards School as well as the recent expansion of clubGEN. The Young Women's Alliance (YWA) generously provided the food, decorations, and womanpower that were vital to the success of this event. Additionally, the evening included GENaustin's most popular Girl Talk presentation, Mean Girls: Survival Strategies for Bullying, Gossip, and Other Hazards of Being a Middle School Girl. The free workshop was led by four high school girls as well as Suzanne Fanger, an expert on female relational aggression. This educational talk addressed the issue of bullying behavior amongst girls and provided parents and girls with usable methods to keep friendships strong, honest, and healthy.

clubGEN's expansion was certainly worth celebrating, as the program now boasts an impressive 37 clubs at 17 AISD middle schools. An increase from 9 middle schools last year, such growth means that GENaustin now serves more girls than ever before. clubGEN is an after school program that is designed to aid and empower middle school girls as they cope with the trials of adolescence. The program employs high school girls to facilitate the clubs, thus providing these girls with the opportunity to develop vital workforce development skills.

clubGEN utilizes one of the only girl-specific research-based curricula in existence. Statistically significant data prove that the curriculum helps girls to achieve positive outcomes for both the short and long term.

The positive impacts of GENaustin's programs are already apparent to those involved in clubGEN. Alice, a facilitator and recent graduate of Garza High School, tells the story of her most encouraging experience with clubGEN so far, explaining, "We do this check-in called thumbs up thumbs down where we say one good thing and one bad thing. For her thumbs down, one girl said she wanted to fight another girl. We took a walk afterwards and talked about why it wouldn't be worth it. I think I really helped her put it into perspective. To see that one person not get in trouble that one time and make a more healthy decision, it was really awesome."

Alice's uplifting story was one among dozens of anecdotes that were shared between members of the GENaustin family on the night of the Open House, an event that proved both celebratory and inspirational to all involved.

Girl Talk En Español

On Thursday October 24th, GENaustin held its first Girl Talk presentation conducted entirely in Spanish. Mendez Middle School hosted the presentation entitled One is the Loneliest Number. The popular Girl Talk topic discussed methods for girls to aid each other, as well as for how they could request help from friends. The girls acted out scenarios to identify reasons why support from family, friends, and especially females is so important.

Students, parents, teachers, and school counselors listened as Imelda Soza, an administrative assistant for Austin Energy's Marketing Communication Division, gave a dynamic presentation, in Spanish, to the more than 30 attendees. Afterwards, lunch and Halloween door prizes were generously provided by the middle school.

Due to the success of the presentation, GENaustin will be providing more Girl Talk events for Spanish-speaking girls and parents in the future.

Donation Drive Success, Thanks to Executive Women in Texas Government

GENaustin would like to thank the Executive Women in Texas Government (EWTG) for generously organizing a donation drive that has supplied clubGEN with much needed materials. The EWTG is a non-partisan organization that promotes leadership in service to Texas by offering professional development opportunities.

EWTG's drive was extremely successful and provided many of the supplies needed for the girls' favorite activities! Among the donated items: magazines (for collage making), hangers (to create mobiles), markers, paints, and much more! Additionally, the EWTG donated five IBM computers to the GENaustin office. For more information about the EWTG, visit www.ewtg.org.

Volunteer Spotlight: Mildred Litchfield

One of GENaustin's primary values is fostering community: GENaustin enlists families and others in a network of volunteers who work to create a positive and synergistic impact on girls' lives. clubGEN's dedicated volunteers are an invaluable part of GENaustin's goal to encourage and empower girls. All of GENaustin's volunteers are highly valued, and this month GENaustin would like to highlight one such volunteer: Mildred Litchfield.

As a clubGEN Campus Coordinator for Murchison Middle School and a substitute mentor for other clubs, Mildred has made her presence known due to her energy and dependability. Her cheerful demeanor and refreshing enthusiasm are complemented by her creative and engaging spirit. When she isn't going above and beyond the call of duty for clubGEN, Mildred is the Front Office Supervisor and Manager-on-Duty at the Double Tree Guest Suites. In the few short months that Mildred has been a member of the GENaustin community, she has shown a natural talent for connecting with the girls of clubGEN.

GENaustin is thankful to Mildred, a true role model.

What Goes On In clubGEN?

One of GENaustin's primary ambitions is to empower girls to engage in healthy peer relationships. This month, the girls of clubGEN participated in an activity that asked them to identify the components of a healthy or unhealthy relationship.

After defining what they each felt were the qualities of a healthy or unhealthy relationship, the girls shared their experiences in a discussion about friendship, bullying, and more. Daisy, a facilitator from Garza High School, explained that even though she was the one running the activity, she had something to learn: "We talked about healthy relationships. It's really exciting whenever the girls get into an activity. It teaches me how to better teach them; every club I learn something new about how to better communicate."

Following the discussion, the girls decorated picture frames using paint, collage, markers, and more. Finally, the girls posed for a group picture. The next week, each girl was given a copy of the photo to place in her decorated frame. The clubs ended with the recitation of a poignant quote by Thea Astley, a successful author and educator: "The more you try to be interested in other people, the more you find out about yourself." This idea holds true for the participants of clubGEN; by defining what they expect from others, the girls then begin to identify what they expect from themselves.