Dear Friends,
We are officially in spring mode. For some people this means taxes and crocuses, at GLI this means getting obsessed with Spring Break Day Camps. We are currently refining new workshops and putting the polishing touches on our scavenger hunts. We have three new characters to meet this year — the Drama Queen, Too Perfect Girl and Real Girl. You haven’t experienced GLI spring break until you’ve hung out with those three!
As we get ready to head off to Boston for our sold out Teacher Training at Simmons College, we want to keep you in the loop with everything going on this month. We have news about summer job opportunities, the annual Parent/Daughter Weekend with Rachel and Simone, our new campaign with Secret deodorant, an amazing Colorado Girl Find, and the story of how one GLI alum is putting her skills to use.Enjoy checking out all these great resources. We hope to see you at a spring program soon!
All My Best,
Simone Marean
Working at GLI Summer Camp
GLI Summer Camp is growing this year, and that means that we have summer positions available for jobs ranging from college-age residential staff to seasoned teaching professionals (and everything in between). GLI Summer Camp job openings will be up for just one more week! Don’t miss this incredible opportunity to work with a dedicated team of girl-world experts and water-fight strategists. GLI summer camp jobs promise rewarding work and wicked fun times. Can’t make it to camp? We are also looking for educators based in San Francisco, the Boulder/Denver area and New York City interested in taking part in our summer training.
Seattle Parent/Daughter Weekend with Rachel and Simone
It’s that time again! Coffee, music, software, snow-capped vistas and futuristic skyscrapers…can you guess the location of this year’s annual retreat with Rachel and Simone? Yes, that’s right – GLI is headed to Seattle for an amazing weekend of laughter, games and communication skill-building. Held on April 29 – May 1 at the Hotel Monaco by Kimpton, the retreat is open to girls in grades 6 – 8 and a parent. The weekend will be an incredible opportunity for bonding, fun, and strengthening relationships in a safe environment that celebrates every individual’s authentic self. Learn more and register.
Rachel, GLI and Secret Partner for Mean Stinks! Campaign
Rachel, GLI and Secret deodorant have teamed up for an exciting new program called Mean Stinks! Together, we’re helping girls face the challenges of bullying, drama and everything in between. We’re giving girls tips, tools and resources to help end the mean streak on a new Facebook page. You can connect with Rachel there, get advice and even submit a confessional to apologize to someone you’ve hurt. Our favorite Mean Stinks tool is an app called Good Graffiti: you can scrawl something awesome about a friend on her Facebook wall.
Secret is a brand that has always celebrated fearless women, and we are proud to be working together on this campaign. Join us and check out what we’re up to. Help us take out the trash talk and end the mean streak!
Colorado Update
It’s the final week of open registration for Boulder’s first GLI Spring Break Camp. This is an amazing opportunity for girls in grades 4 and 5 to have fun, play crazy games, work on relationship skills, and make friends. Financial aid is available; for more information or to register, click here. We look forward to your daughter joining us over Spring Break – pass it on!
And in more exciting Colorado news, we’re thrilled that Rachel Simmons, New York Times bestselling author and co-founder of Girls Leadership Institute, will be back in Colorado this April, sharing how you and your daughter can “Get Real”. Rachel will only be in Colorado for two nights, so grab your calendar, plan a date night with your daughter(s) and go online to register for the night that works best for you:
Denver, April 27, 2011, at Girls Athletic Leadership School. Register at: http://rachelsimmons-at-gals.eventbrite.com .
Boulder, April 28, 2011, sponsored by PEN at Fairview High School. Register at: http://penbv.org/realgirls .
My Sophomore Summer Experience
By Kimberly Fletcher
A major part of the Sophomore Summer curriculum at GLI Summer Camp involves having each girl create a module about a topic she learned at camp, and then introduce it into her own community when she returns home. Each morning the Sophomore Summer girls gathered to learn new skills. The process involved creating “elevator speeches” in which we quickly and concisely summarized the objective of our modules, learning to write compelling letters to the leaders of the organizations we hoped to present to, and Rachel even prepared us to make “scary” phone calls to authority figures to successfully present our ideas over the telephone.
Since we meet new people every day, and I believe first impressions are long lasting, I decided to emphasize the importance of eye contact in my module. I chose to work with teenage girls in the National Charity League (NCL), an organization I have been part of for six years, because I wanted to introduce its members to the breadth of opportunities GLI offers. In addition, I recognized the benefit of “knowing my audience.”
I opened with some of my favorite GLI icebreakers, talked about the impact eye contact has on others and played games that gave the girls a chance to practice with each other. It was interesting that most of the girls felt they were relatively good at eye contact, but this turned out not to be the case! My module made them more aware of how they actually behave, not how they behave in their mind’s eye.
My presentation to the 8th graders was so well received that I was invited back to present to the 7th grade class. Before I did, however, I reflected on my first session and considered ways to make my presentation more effective. I reorganized the material so it would flow more smoothly, tweaked my choice of GLI games, and created a way to increase participation. This presentation went even better than the first, and both groups asked if I would come back again this spring to introduce new topics.
This experience was very rewarding at a personal level. It was satisfying to engage middle school girls, some that were initially very skeptical, in our wild and crazy GLI games. I had worked hard on my module and I could see that the girls respected me because I was well prepared. I strengthened my presentation skills, improved my Power Point techniques, and gained confidence because I successfully convinced the NCL leaders to allow me to present at a meeting. And, this provided for some interesting reflection for my college application essays, too!
Girl Find
We have partnered with another awesome organization in Colorado. The Women’s Wilderness Institute (TWWI), headquartered in Boulder, CO, is a national nonprofit organization with the mission of strengthening the courage, confidence, and leadership qualities of girls and women, through the support and challenge of wilderness- and community-based experiences.
For those of you looking for strong camp programs, where you can put your GLI skills into action, check out the Girls’ Wilderness Program. The Girls’ Wilderness Program reaches out to girls ages 8-18 and offers 4- to 12- day sessions of backpacking, rock climbing, and expressive arts, in Colorado’s amazing Rocky Mountains. It’s the perfect, real-world adventure to practice speaking your heart and mind, stretching yourself in all sorts of new directions, and building strong, healthy friendships. This program has been running since 1998, based on many of the same ‘girl-positive’ principles that GLI uses.
And the best part? It’s available to everyone. Generous financial assistance is available, and no girl has been turned away for lack of funds. Courses are enrolling now and filling fast. Visit www.womenswilderness.org or call 303-938-9191 for more information.
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