Dear Friends,
Camps are blossoming all over! This week we are running a Day Camp for the students of The Young Women’s Leadership School in Brooklyn, then our first Summer Day Camp is breaking ground in Boulder, CO, followed by our flagship three-week overnight camp at Smith College (seven spots left!). Read below to learn how we’re working with the Young Women’s Leadership Network to offer our Day Camp at no charge to their students. And you can be a part of making Summer Camp possible for a girl from a low-income family by joining our Summer Camp Campaign.
In this newsletter Rachel Simmons shares two great resources she’s discovered, Peggy Drexler’s new book Fathers and Daughters and Jennifer Siebel Newsom’s new movie about the representation of women in the media and how it is impacting girls. We also wanted to celebrate the achievements of one of our alumna campers, Tessa Zeman, who is commemorating the one-year anniversary of the BP oil spill with her own fundraising and awareness campaign to help with the clean-up efforts.
All my best,
Simone Marean
We Love This New Book About Dads & Daughters!
GLI ally Dr. Peggy Drexler has written a compelling new book about how daughters are shaped by their dads. Our Fathers, Ourselves: Daughters, Fathers and the Changing American Family explores the vibrant relationship between today’s daughters and their fathers. Peggy, a psychologist, interviewed seventy-five women, inviting them to speak from the heart about their fathers, their families and themselves. Peggy writes, “I heard about fathers who imbued their daughters with moxie and confidence, and fathers who hobbled their daughters’ independence. I heard what young women valued in their connections with their fathers, and what they wished were different. Most of all, I heard the commitment that young women feel toward their fathers, and their eagerness to stay connected to the men who were among the first loves in their lives.”
We love Peggy’s work. Check out the new book, visit her website to learn more or follow her on Twitter.
Opportunity Rocks
We are beyond thrilled to be partnering again with the Sports & Arts in Schools Foundation (SASF) and the Young Women’s Leadership Network (YWLN) to offer girls at The Young Women’s Leadership School in Brooklyn a full week of our Spring Break Day Camp program at no charge. These amazing girls have been busy playing GLI’s trademark games, cheering each other on, and learning life-long skills in communication and healthy relationships that will serve them well into their futures. We are so pleased to be able to offer our program to thirty incredible girls whose families would not otherwise be able to provide this opportunity.
Thank you SASF and YWLN for your wonderful support!
Miss Representation
Writer/Director Jennifer Siebel Newsom convenes some of America’s most influential women in politics, news, and entertainment to give us an inside look at the media’s message. Miss Representation explores women’s under-representation in positions of power and influence, and challenges the limited and often disparaging portrayal of women in the media.
Stories from teenage girls and provocative interviews with politicians, journalists, academics, and activists like Condoleezza Rice, Lisa Ling, Nancy Pelosi, Katie Couric, Rachel Maddow, Rosario Dawson, Jackson Katz, Jean Kilbourne, and Gloria Steinem build momentum as Miss Representation accumulates startling facts and statistics that will leave audiences armed with a new perspective.
Tessa Zeman Puts Leadership Into Action
Last summer changed my whole perspective on community service and supporting a cause I’m passionate about. The project that I formulated is called: Save Oiled Wildlife. SOW raises money to donate to the National Wildlife Federation’s sector dedicated to researching and supporting the habitats affected by the BP oil spill in the Gulf. The amazing support system from the staff and campers at GLI have helped me to continue my project with the same passion as when I first started mapping it out during Sophomore Summer workshops at camp.
So far at my school, Albany Academy for Girls, I have talked to the head of the school, and also the head of the boys school we’re affiliated with and have lined up a paid ocean color themed dress down day (we wear uniforms) at the girls school for grades pre-k through 12, an SOW t-shirt sale for both schools (all grades), and am working on a restaurant night where anyone from my school with a flyer can go to a local restaurant and part of the proceeds will go to my cause. My ultimate goal is to raise $3,000 for The National Wildlife Federation.
I’m still getting a lot of support from my main project counselor, Lindsey, and my friends from GLI, and I’m really happy that GLI helped me to form and get excited about my project so I can help the animals who can’t help themselves.
Spring Greening!
It’s spring time, which means the trees are bursting with green, and so are the GLI supporters who are already responding to our annual fundraising campaign by donating funds to send more deserving girls to Summer Camp this year. If you have some extra green to share, and want to help support a girl in her goal of getting to camp, we’ve made it easy for you to contribute to the cause. Visit our donation page today and join us in our mission of teaching every girl the skills she needs to live her authentic life.
Comments 0