SV girl action teams
SV Girl Action Team Projects (2009-2010)
Santa Clara County
Team 24, Downtown College Prep Alameda Campus, San Jose – Stop the Violence
The team at DCP Alameda
wanted to take a stand against violence in their community! They created a t-shirt
that educates youth about tackling the root cause of the issue, anger. The girls decided to give a presentation on
their t-shirt project at their Friday assemblies to increase awareness on how
anger leads to violence and to make students aware that they have alternative
solutions.
Team 10, Monroe Middle School, San
Jose – Animal Cruelty: Education on how to Treat Animals
The girls from Monroe are tired of seeing animal cruelty
due to the lack of education on how to treat animals! They visited a local animal shelter in order
to learn more about the issue. They then created a video on how to treat
animals in a humane manner. The girls also
arranged a school assembly to present their video and handed out fliers to
inform their fellow classmates on how to prevent the unethical treatment of
animals.
Team 25: Downtown College Prep Alviso, San Jose - Gay + Straight = Friends
The girls at DCP Alviso
wanted to help stop homophobia at their school and in their community. They felt
that by creating t-shirts with positive messages they could help other people
see there is no need to be scared of someone because they are gay. To show support to the gay, lesbian and
bisexual students at their school they wore their t-shirts and carried posters to
stand in solidarity against homophobia.
Team 12, Ocala Middle School, San Jose
– Communication Awareness Week
The girls from Team #12 want families
to get along with each other so they arranged a week at their school to educate
their peers on best practices of effective community. They designed t-shirts to wear during school
that said, “Speak Softly, Listen Loudly” and hung up posters that carried the
message, “Say what you mean” and “Speak Up”.
They hope that students feel inspired to think about their communication
styles and then share it with their families.
Team 20, Friends Outside of Santa
Clara County, San Jose – Pregnancy Prevention 101 with the Ladii Starz
Girl Action Team 20 feels that teen
girls should have education and resources in order to make informed choices
around teen pregnancy. They designed and
created a video skit that depicted realistic events and experiences of a
pregnant teen. By providing local
resources in the video, they present girls with different options in order to
empower them to choose a path that feels right to them.
Team 16, Sherman Oaks Middle School, San Jose - Just Say No!
The team from
Sherman Oaks is tired of seeing people do drugs because of peer pressure and
the effects they can have on communities and loved ones. They created t-shirts to promote their message on the importance of not succumbing to peer pressure in order to prevent others from doing drugs. The
hope that by wearing their shirts at school and in their community that people
will make smart choices and “Just Say No” to the pressure!
Team 14, KIPP Heartwood Academy, San
Jose – Bake Sale to Support the Self-Esteem Fund
The girls at KIPP Heartwood identified
eating disorders as an important issue facing teenage girls that is caused by
low self-esteem. The team wants to
remind girls that they are beautiful just how they are so they decided to get
behind the Dove Campaign for Real Beauty.
They circulated flyers to promote self-confidence and their bake sale
where they raised money to donate to the Dove Self-Esteem Fund to help provide
self-esteem programs for girls.
Team 11, Sierramont Middle School, San
Jose – Project 11’s Keep Your Head Up!
Team #11 feels that bullying is a big
problem at their school and that it is caused by low-self esteem. To address the issue they decided to create a
video composed of teacher and peer interviews about experiences and the known
effects of bullying. They want to get
the word out that being proactive toward improving self-esteem can not only
make a person feel better about themselves, but can stop them from being a
bully. After final edits over the summer
they plan to show it to students at their school next year to prevent further
bullying on campus.
Team 8, Clyde Fischer Middle School, San Jose - Project BEAU_TEE-ful!
The girls on team 8 felt that gossiping had gotten out of hand at their school. They decided to do something about it by launching a human billboard campaign that tackled the root cause of loa self-esteem. With the message, "Be Uniquely You!", they want others to know that it's cool to be unique. By wearing their shirts to school they hope to reduce the gossip and spread the message that it's okay to be yourself.
Team
7, Piedmont Hills High School, San Jose – A Cleaner School and Environment Mean
a Better Future!
The girls of Piedmont Hills saw that amount
of litter on campus was increasing this year.
By using the school website and reaching out to various clubs to plan
competitions, they hope to ignite school pride to help spread the message that
a clean campus is a beginning step to a better future. They worked with school staff in order to
incorporate their project as a permanent part of school spirit movement.
Team 6, Leadership Public Schools San
Jose, San Jose – Self Esteem Video
The LPS San Jose Team felt that teen pregnancy is a
problem for girls in their community.
They made a video and posted it online to inform girls on ways to
improve their self-esteem in order to lower the rate of teen pregnancies. To help them spread the word the team also
made bracelets to hand out to girls as a reminder to have high self-esteem and
to feel good about themselves. Watch the video!
Team 15, August Boeger Middle School,
San Jose – DDD: Don’t Do Drugs!
Team #15
determined that emotional problems were the main cause of people doing
drugs. They developed a poster campaign
that bring awareness to their issue and highlight other solutions to emotional
problems instead of doing drugs. The girls coordinated with teachers to present
their posters to their peers in classrooms before displaying them for their entire
school community.
Team 5, Fremont High School, Sunnyvale
– Money, spend wisely!
The girls from Fremont High want to
bring money management awareness to their community. They feel that the
mismanagement of money can lead to other issues like family fights, anger and
stress. In order to prevent other issues caused by financial troubles they made
informational brochures on best budget practices. The team worked with a GFC volunteer from
Technology Credit Union in order to research the needed information. They handed out these brochures to 100 people
in front of the Sunnyvale Library to encourage smart spending and saving
amongst their community members.
San Mateo County
Team 21, Menlo Park: Boys and Girls
Club, Menlo Park - Go Beyond It
The girls at Menlo Park
Boys and Girls Club felt that disagreements and misunderstandings are the main
reasons why people choose to use violence. The team designed t-shirts
expressing their slogan “Go Beyond It” to encourage youth to go beyond violence
and move toward peace. They also created a collage with images about violence,
peace and powerful statements to convey the message. They posted the collage at the Boys and Girls
Club and wore their shirts to bring awareness to this issue and reduce the
violence in Menlo Park.
Team 18, St. Elizabeth Seton, Palo
Alto – Manage Your Stress So You Won’t Hurt Your Children
The team at St. Elizabeth Seton is concerned about
parental stress that leads to child abuse.
They created 80 book marks to hand out at the school book fair that
contained information on how parents can manage stress. The bookmarks included such sayings as, “Take a deep breath and promise not
to hurt your child”. By getting parents
to change their behavior the girls feel that they will help to stop child abuse
in their community.
Team
9, Manuel F. Cunha Intermediate School, Half Moon Bay – What happens to that
plastic bag?
Girl Action
Team #9 is concerned about the effects of litter on the environment. They wanted to inform others on the impact
their trash has on the world now and for years to come. They took action by creating a video and
posting it on the internet to educate others on what happens when they don’t
pick up their plastic bags. They hope
with more information people won’t just toss their trash on the ground and will
think about the impact of their actions.
Team 23, Selby Lane, Redwood City – Gangs are NOT Cool
Team #23 identified
gangs as a root cause of violence in the community. They created an outreach
campaign using t-shirts and fliers. Their message to fellow students is that being
a part of gangs just isn’t cool. The fliers were made in both English and
Spanish and were handed out by the team the same day they wore their t-shirts at
school. By educating students on the dangers of gangs,
they hope to prevent the spread of violence in their community.
Team 1, East Palo Alto Boys and Girls
Club, East Palo Alto – Self Defense Training for 6th Grade Girls
The girls of Team #1 felt unsafe in
their community. They felt that a lack of community resources and education on
how to defend themselves compromised their safety, so they decided to take
matters into their own hands! They
wanted to educate themselves on defense techniques. The team arranged for
self-defense training, donated by Impact Bay Area, for 6th grade
girls at the Boys and Girls Club. With
the newly learned defense skills they empowered 20 girls to protect themselves if
they are ever in a dangerous situation.
Team 19, McKinley Institute of Technology, Redwood City - Why Wait, Educate!
The girls at McKinley felt that they didn't want to wait to tackle ignorance and popular misconceptions about teen pregnancy. They create t-shirts and bookmarks to educate others and raise awareness on teen pregnancy prevention resources that are available in their community. They want to spread the message to teen girls that it's okay to say "no" to sex and that there are confidential resources available to them.
Team 32, College Track, East Palo Alto – Voices of SistaHood
The girls at EPA College
Track felt that teens aren’t getting enough trust from their parents due to the
actions of other teens. The girls received a workshop on grant writing in order
to fund the start of their own girl group at EPA College Track that is geared
toward bringing girls and parents together to start dialog and communication. By
hosting events for girls and their parents with bonding activities, an online
forum for emotional support, and having merchandise to sell, the girls hope to
gain the trust of their parents despite the actions of other teens. The girls have
scheduled their first meeting and will be developing a name, logo and missions
statement for their group.
Alameda County
Team 29, Lionel Wilson College Preparatory Academy (high school), Oakland
Team 29 felt that guys aren't taking their share of responsibility when it comes to the issue of teen pregnancy. The girls want guys to understand that safe sex education is the responsibility of both parties involved. The girls created a human billboard campaign of t-shirts with the message, "Who is responsible: Both of us!" They also got the word out by texting their fellow classmates to wear purple the same day they wore their shirts to stand in solidarity and to help prevent teen pregnancy.
Team 22, Leadership Public Schools College Park, Oakland – Stop the Jokes!
The girls at LPS College
Park are tired of hearing jokes about race and stereotypes at their school.
After having a round table discussion about why people stereotype and how it
has personally affected their lives, the
girls decided to get the word out by making posters to combat common racial stereotypes.
By starting this conversation they hope people can find common ground rather
than continue to make hurtful jokes.
Team 17, Leadership Public Schools,
Hayward – Choosing the Right Addiction
The girls from LPS Hayward want to
decrease the number of teens using drugs and increase the focus on the
importance of school and future goals.
They presented a workshop to 7th and 8th grade
students at Kings Middle School in Hayward in order to raise awareness around
the dangers of succumbing to drugs. They
hope the students will choose to say no to drugs by understanding the
detrimental effects it can have on their future.
The girls from the Cal Prep team want
to educate other girls to not believe the Hollywood hype about how they should
look. They took a trip to the San Francisco DeYoung Museum to research
different ideals of beauty. Following the visit, the girls created a video to
showcase their feelings on how women are inaccurately portrayed women in the
media. They plan to post the video on
the internet and send it to magazine editors in order to spread their message
that beauty has many different faces.
Team 27, Lionel Wilson College Preparatory Academy (middle school), Oakland CA –
Girls Deserve Respect!
The
girls on team #27 felt that boys receive messages from society and the media
that girls are sexual objects. They are tired of disrespectful comments and
actions from boys in their community and school so they decided to create
posters, flyers and t-shirts to convey their message that girls should be
treated with respect! They hope that their project will let other girls know
that they are not alone and to encourage boys to change their disrespectful
behavior.
San Francisco County
Team 30, College Track San Francisco, San Francisco
The girls at College Track SF wanted to put an end to domestic violence. They felt that by educating men and women on how domestic violence affects both genders, that people would have a better understanding on how to prevent it from happening in their community. The girls created posters and flyers with statistics on domestic abuse by both men and women in order to spread the word that it affects everyone. They also provided San Francisco domestic abuse resources and hotlines for those seeking more information on how to stop the cycle of domestic violence.
Santa Cruz County
Team 28, Santa Cruz Boys and Girls Club, Santa Cruz - More Love, Less Gangs!
The girls at the Boys and Girls Club felt that gangs are a problem in their community. The team felt that kids who don't get enough love and attention at home were more likely to join gangs. They decided to get the word out by making stickers with positive messages such as, "More Love, Less Gangs". The stickers were given out to the other kids at the club and in their community. They hope to be a positive influence by spreading their message to other in order to prevent them from joining gangs.
Team 26, Lakeview Middle School, Watsonville- Bad Attention
The team at Lakeview has
had enough with people being bullied! They developed the slogan, “Hate is easy,
love takes courage” and created fliers, posters and t-shirts to encourage
bullies to seek out positive ways to get attention instead of bullying. They girls also created an announcement to be
read over the loudspeaker the day they promoted their project. The announcement
shared their message that students should be courageous and loving toward their
fellow classmates.
Team 31, Live Oak Boys and Girls Club - Be Prepared, Use Protection!
Team 31 is tired of seeing absent fathers and the effect is has on their community. They felt that this was less likely to occur if people were better prepared and used protection when it comes to being sexually active. The girls created t-shirts with messages promoting protection in order to prevent unwanted pregnancies and therefore absentee fathers. They wore their shirts while passing out buttons and stickers to other students at the Boys and Girls club hoping to pass along their message to the community.
Below are projects that girls across Silicon Valley created in the fall of 2009.
Team 1, J.W. Fair Middle School, San Jose – Violence Away from San Jose
The girls at
Team 2,
Girl Action Team 2 was concerned about middle school and high school girls making choices that did not reflect their values. They wanted girls to feel empowered to be authentic. The team believes that low self-esteem and peer pressure are the driving force behind this problem. The girls created alter to explore their own values and think about what they want to stay true to in their lives. They also developed a set of written tools for the team to use when faced with peer pressure that encourages a message of authenticity and staying true to who you are.
Team 4,
The Oak Grove GFC team is getting the word out about stopping animal abuse. They believe that too many animals are not being spayed or neutered and this results in over population and leads to abuse and neglect. The girls reached out to local animal organizations in order to gather information and resources needed to create a Facebook page. They dedicated the social networking page to informing the community on how to be responsible pet owners. They plan on using the Facebook page as a way to mobilize the community and be a resource for educating others in order to stop the cycle of animal abuse.
Team 5,
The girls at
Team 7,
Girl Action Team number 7 hoped to encourage students in their community to think twice before using weapons to solve problems. The girls feel people need strong communication skills so that when confronted with conflict, people will start peaceful and respectful dialogue. The girls tackled this issue by making T-shirts that depicted people creating peaceful conflict resolution. They wore the shirts to school to promote conversation around their cause in hopes of creating a community that doesn’t respond to hatred with guns and violence but with love and respect.
Team 8,
The girls of Lighthouse Charter created an information booth to educate people about thinking before they act. The team feels that people do not analyze the consequences of their behavior before they act and therefore cause harm to people, pets, the environment, etc. The team presented their booth at the school’s Expo in December. The booth included guest speakers, informational posters and resource flyers and brochures that spread the message of not causing harm. The girls feel that by making informed choices, people will cause less harm in the world.
Team 9,
The girls of Team 9 wanted to feel better about their bodies. They believe that women and girls are flooded with images of how society thinks they should look. The team designed buttons that say “I’m Beautiful” and distributed them at Don Callejon School and the Sobrato Family Living Center. They hope to educate other girls that it is important to feel good about their bodies and that they will feel powerful in order to change their community and their own lives.
Team 10,
The team at East Palo Alto Charter wanted to spread the word that there are repercussions to gossiping and that people just don’t understand how much damage gossip it can cause. The girls educated their school on the topic of gossip by creating and wearing T-shirts that showed the negative effects that gossiping can cause. The girls wore their shirts to school and encouraged their peers to sign them as an agreement to not gossip and to think critically before spreading negative messages about someone else.
Team 11,
The girls of Team 11 determined that fear is the main cause of discrimination and stereotyping in their community. They are currently developing a workshop curriculum for middle school students that will focus on breaking down stereotypes and unifying girls. They plan to complete the curriculum during the 2009/2010 school year and present it to their administrators for future school use. They hope the workshops will build respect for cultural diversity through girl partners that strengthened self-respect.
Silicon Valley Girl Steering Committee
This year the Girl Steering Committee devoted their time to formulate new projects for the Girls For A Change Girl Action Network. They designed new promotional materials in order to get the word out about the Network to girls in Silicon Valley and on Girl Action Teams. They also developed the video interviews to be launches in 2010/2011 called, "I am a woman of Change". These interviews include perspectives from various women in their community that support social change. The Girl Steering Committee want other girls to feel inspired by the women they admire in their community and to encourage them to become agents of social change.
SV Girl Action Team Projects (2008-2009)
Below are projects girls across Silicon Valley created in the 2008-09 program year.
Team 2, Allen at Steinbeck, San Jose: Project Stop Pregnancy
The girls of Team 2 felt that there is not enough education available in their community around teen pregnancy and teen parenting. They felt it leads to an increase in negative choices around this issue. By using the power of personal stories and testimonies, the girls are educating their peers on the reality of teen parenting by creating a video. The video includes individual experiences with teen pregnancy/parenting, resources and current facts and statistics. They also plan to create a facebook page and post their video to help get the word out to other teens.
Team 3, Alum Rock Youth Center, San Jose: Graffiti Free Alum Rock
The girls of Team 3 chose to address the graffiti issue in their neighborhood. The team reached out to the City of San Jose to complete a mural project in a high graffiti area. The mural will act as a community art piece and will stop individuals from tagging in the future. The girls also interviewed community members about the graffiti and what it means to them. They hope to create a short commercial to share with their neighbors on how graffiti affects their community.
Team 4, Independence High School, San Jose: Healthy Choices
The girls of Team 4 have noticed an increase in the number of pregnant or parenting teens on their campus. They wanted more resources and information available to students to assist in making healthier choices. They chose to create a brochure to educate their classmates on the issue and let them know where they can find resources. The team partnered with Planned Parenthood to educate themselves on the issue and get their own questions answered. The team felt that with more education their peers will begin to make healthier choices.
Team 6, Los Altos High School, Los Altos: No More Stressed Out Schools!
Stress has become a highly prevalent and damaging reality for students, families, and staff at Los Altos High School. The Team is working with the Challenge Success program through Stanford University to recognize, address, and reduce stress at the school. The Team created Stress Awareness Week with activities that included an art contest, showing a video the team created and distributing a student survey. About 100 students, parents and staff also joined the team for their School Stress Awareness Night on April 2nd with student-led demonstrations and skits. The team continues to assess the surveys submitted by students about their stress level and bring ideas for reducing stress to the school community.
Team 7, Graham Middle School, Mountain View: Greening Our School
The girls on Team 7 decided to focus on environmental awareness as their issue. They are focusing on their school through two projects. First they researched facts and images about the environment that they are putting the school newsletter, called "Bear Tracks." The girls are now actively working with the school faculty to reduce waste at lunch. The girls want to acquire recycle bins for the paper/cardboard trays that are used during lunch or to replace the paper waste with reusable plastic trays. The girls want to create awareness and reduce waste to green their school! Read Team 7's posting in their school newsletter!
Team 8, August Boeger, San Jose: Project Safety
Team 8 wants to ensure that all students are safe. The team felt that many female students were feeling unsafe and wanted to do something about it. The girls organized self-defense training for their peers after-school. The team secured the trainer and worked with the school to reserve a room on campus, they then invited girls from the school to attend the free event. The team felt that the new skills would lead to an increased sense of personal safety and that those that participated with be able to now teach their friends.
Team 9, Fremont High School, Sunnyvale: Educating the Public on Aspects of Animal Care
Team 9 knew they wanted to address the issue of animal abuse. After completing research at the Santa Clara County Humane Society, the girls decided to focus their project on educating future pet owners about the importance of training and caring for their pets. They created an awareness campaign with fliers and pamphlets advertising animal training classes. They believed that if new pet owners had this information prior to adopting, they would be less likely to abuse of neglect their animals. The team hopes that with their action less pets will have to suffer abuse and neglect.
Team 10, San Jose High Academy, San Jose: Supporting Victims of Child Abuse
Child abuse is an issue that affects many people and is not a topic that is always talked about openly. The girls of Team 10 felt that students need to know that there are resources and services available to help them deal with this serious situation. The team created informational materials for their school and community to let them know of local services and where to get help. They also plan on collecting stories from their peers about how abuse has affected their lives. They hope that their peers will learn that they are not alone and will be able to get help.
Team 11, Leadership Public Schools, Hayward: Valuing Children and Stopping the Cycle of Violence
For Team 11’s project, they partnered with two middle schools to educate middle school youth on the issue of child abuse. At each school they talked about Day of the Child, highlighting the day and its meaning through a presentation and by handing out child abuse hotline information. They also included the middle school students in the program through interactive skits. Through this project the team increased the knowledge of participants in order to break the cycle of violence in families and communities.
Team 12, East Palo Alto Charter School: Educating Our Peers to Stop Teen Pregnancy
Team 12 wants to educate their community about teen pregnancy. The team is going to other middle schools in the city to present information about the realities of being a teen, including the lifestyle change, myths associated with pregnancies, and costs associated with being a teenage mom. They chose this project after noticing that an increasing number of teenage girls in East Palo Alto are pregnant. They are confident this education will prevent pregnancies among their peers.
Team 13, Fair Middle School, San Jose: The Truth about Being a Teen Parent
Team 13 is preventing teen pregnancy through creating a commercial that helps their peers better understand the realities of being a teen parent. The girls are also tackling their root cause of self-esteem. Each of the girls has a segment in the commercial to share what is important to them personally regarding teen pregnancy prevention. The segments of the commercial include what it means to parent a child to how to prevent teen pregnancies by standing up for yourself. The team found resources at their school for creating the commercial and plans to post it online and also get the message to their peers through TV and radio.
Team 14, Leadership Public Schools, San Jose: Real Beauty
After exploring several issues this year, the girls on Team 14 decided to take on the issue of what beauty really looks like. The girls learned about facts associated with self image and self esteem and also took a critical look at the images they see in the media. The girls made posters to spread the word about what the media portrays as beauty and how negative these images can be on self esteem. The posters were colorfully decorated with images, strong messages of self worth and facts. The girls displayed the posters at school spreading their message of empowering yourself through positive self image.
Team 15, Everett Middle School with the Beacon Center, San Francisco: Learning About Social Change
This year, the girls at Everett have been introduced to the concept of social change, and are now aware of the difference between change and charity. In exploring some of the social issues they are passionate about, the girls have zeroed in on two issues: funding cuts for after school programs and discrimination or prejudice they see among their peers about speaking different languages. The girls are currently exploring root causes of both of these issues and will complete a done in a day project before the end of the year.
Team 17, KIPP Heartwood Academy, San Jose: Safe Space
The girls of team 17 chose to address the issue of abuse among young people and the difficulty in accessing resources. They felt that there is not enough education around how and where to get help. The girls want to ensure that all members of their community know how to get support and resources if need. The team created a video to share information about the issue and inform community members when and where to get help.
Team 18, St. Elizabeth Seton School, Palo Alto: Animal Cruelty and Neglect – How You Can Stop It
The girls on Team 18 are teaching people how to be responsible pet owners. Through educating the community on techniques for training and caring for animals, they believe many more animals will live healthy lives. The girls wrote a script, gathered props and created a set for a talk show. In the show, the girls review preventative training techniques for dogs and spread knowledge about the prevalence of animal abuse. The girls taped the talk show and have posted it online on YouTube. Watch the show!
Team 19, Pioneer Plus High School, San Jose: Continuing Our Work to Stop Gang Violence
The girls at Pioneer are continuing their work against gang violence in their community. After surveying the community about the prevalence of gangs and gang violence last year, they have created an assembly for elementary and middle school students. In the assemblies, the girls want to spread the word about how gangs are formed. Students in the assemblies will learn how to stay out of gangs which will prevent gangs from growing and therefore slow down gang violence and create a safer community.
Team 20, Lighthouse Charter, Oakland: Stop Stereotypes
The girls of Team 20 decided to focus their project on stereotypes and the issues that arise from this. The girls saw that stereotypes can lead to large societal problems such as racism. The team is in the planning phase and is looking forward to completing their project. They hope that by creating a project that focuses on the negative impact of stereotypes, the community will be a safer place for everyone.
Team 22, College Track, San Francisco: Speaking Out Against Police Brutality
This team has seen how police brutality creates fear and causes tension between police officers and community residents. The girls want police to treat people in their community fairly and follow the laws they are responsible for enforcing. The girls are creating fliers to bring attention to the issue of police brutality and share with youth actions that can be taken on the issue. The team will also create a blog to share their experiences on police brutality and create dialogue in the community. This blog will not be a place to bash police officers, but to create productive conversations and improve the relationship between community members and law enforcement.
Team 23, Sobrato Family Living Center, Santa Clara: Standing Up to Peer Pressure to Stop Drug Use
Team 23 wants to decrease drug use among their peers so they are creating a video to increase education about the danger of drugs and how to say no. The video will include the girls speaking out against drug use and sharing facts about the issue. Girls will also include a message about how to say no to drugs. This video will address their root cause of education and how to stand up to pressure from peers. The girls are taping and editing the video and plan to show the video to youth groups in the community. Watch the Video!
Team 24, Rancho Milpitas Middle School, Milpitas: Stop the Judgment
The girls of Team 24 are tired of all the judging that goes on at their school. When they looked harder at the issue they realized that a lot of the judging that goes on is based around jealously. The team thought that if they focused on shedding some light on the issue people would begin to accept each other as individuals. More than 120 students completed a survey, created by the team to gather the feelings and experiences their peers have around jealousy. The girls published their findings and shared with their community how detrimental jealously can be.
Team 25, College Track, East Palo Alto: Looking Beyond Skin Color – End Discrimination
The girls of Team 25 want to decrease the use of racial slurs among their peers in order to take a stand against discrimination. The team wants people to realize that as human beings we are all the same. They will spread this message through t-shirts they crated. The t-shirt displays an image of the team and other youth and encourages people to not judge others by their skin color. The team wants the t-shirts to start conversations among their peers so they can spread the word and stop discrimination. The girls are also committed to embracing their message by not pre judging others now and throughout their lives.
Team 26, Ronald McNair Middle School, East Palo Alto: Sunshine Recycling
When Ronald McNair implemented a new school-wide recycling program the girls on Team 26 were very excited. The team began to notice that not everyone on campus knew about the program or were using the new bins. The girls decided that they needed to help spread the word. They created flyers to advertise the program and will present them to the student body at the back to school night.
Team 27, Sierramont Middle School, San Jose: Project Hope For Mental Health
Team 27 is concerned about the mental health of their peers. They have seen what the effects of depression and suicide can do to a community. The team felt that more needs to be done to address this issue and let their peers know that someone cares. The girls created a public service announcement to address this issue and raise awareness about teen depression and suicide prevention. In the future they would like to post their video on the internet and continue to get the word out and educate their community.
Team 31, Mission San Jose High School, Fremont: Vent Day To Stop Violent Anger!
The girls of Team 31 wanted to combat anger by providing their fellow students with tools and resources to express their voice in a non-violent way. The girls created and built a frustration wall where fellow students had an opportunity to design a tile that depicted safe and healthy ways to deal with stress and emotional anger and frustration. They hoped the wall would serve as a visual reminder of the pledge to healthy behavior by their peers when dealing with difficult situations.
Team 32, East Palo Alto Boys and Girls Club, East Palo Alto: Stomping Out Drug Abuse
Team 32 has chosen to address the issue of drug and alcohol use in teens. The girls felt this was a pressing issue in their community and worked with the youth at the Boys and Girls Club to address it. The team created a workshop for the Club youth to attend to discuss this issue and talk about resources available. The team also plans on creating a skit and other outreach materials to educate their peers.
Team 33, Notre Dame High School, Belmont: Love Your Body
The girls of Team 33 want to put a stop to the media’s portrayal of what a women’s body “should look like.” They believe that if woman of all shapes and sizes were portrayed as beautiful and valued for more than just their physical appearance, girls self-esteem would increase. To address this issue, the girls created an educational workshop to put on in homerooms about body image. They did various activities where students in the school were asked to write on the paper what they like about themselves to promote positive body image. They hung the results on the wall of the school foyer for a week. They hoped that by brining attention to this issue they would see a rise in self-love respect.
Team 34, Burnett Middle School, San Jose: Results on Animal Abuse
Team 34 decided to focus on addressing the issue of animal abuse. The team felt that the sooner you educate individuals about this issue the better. They believed that middle school is the perfect time to start. The girls created bookmarks to get their fellow peers to start thinking about the issue and raise their awareness. The team handed them out during lunch and after-school. The hoped that by educating their peers about the issue they will be inspired to educate others.
Team 38, Hillsdale High School, San Mateo: Drive Safe
Team 38 knew the dangers of reckless driving. They felt it has become a big issue in their community and something needs to change. The team decided to make bookmarks for their school that remind students to stop and think when driving. The team also had a booth at lunch to distribute the bookmarks to their peers.
Team 36, Ocala Middle School, San Jose: Just Say No
Girl Action Team 36 was worried about the peer pressure young people face when it comes to trying drugs. The team decided to create a positive message campaign to educate their peers and themselves. They interviewed people who have experienced drug abuse and are now in recovery. They girls hoped that by collecting this information for themselves they will have real life stories and examples of the negative impact drugs can have on your life when confronted with peer pressure. The girls shared this information with their peers to show you can have fun without drugs.
Team 37, Hoover Middle School with Boys and Girls Club, Redwood City: Girls For Spaying and Neutering Pets
The girls of Team 37 were concerned about the overpopulation of ownerless dogs and cats in their community. They decided to create posters and a YouTube video to inform pet owners about the how and why of spaying and neutering. They believed that by informing the community about the importance of spaying and neutering their pets, they could create educate around the issue and help reduce animal overpopulation and the euthanization of unwanted animals. Watch the video!
Team 40, Lionel Wilson Preparatory High School, Oakland: Walk For Awareness
Team 40 is concerned about the growing number of women without access to affordable health care. They believe this could indirectly lead to an increase in the number of women diagnosed with cervical cancer each year. In order to raise awareness about the need for affordable women’s health care and cervical cancer; they hosted an awareness walk and distributed flyers with information about prevention measures and early detection methods.
Team 41, Lionel Wilson Preparatory Middle School, Oakland: Face To Face With Abuse
The young women of team 41 were concerned about how sexual abuse was affecting girls and women in their community. The girls held a town hall meetings were they invited fellow middle school girls to attend. They presented facts on sexual abuse and raised awareness about the warning signs and how and where to ask for help. The girls hoped that by raising awareness around this issue their peers would feel more confident and safe when asking for help.
Team 42, Piedmont Hills High School, San Jose: Everyone Deserves To Go To School
Team 42 is concerned about the misconception that girl’s education in the developing world is not as important as boys. The lack of hygiene products available to girls in developing countries interferes with their ability to attend school. By holding a tea social for middle school girls in their community, Team 42 hoped to education and raise awareness about the important need for girls all over the world to be able to attend school without interruption.
Team 43, Sherman Oaks Elementary, San Jose: Stop the Bullies
Bullying is a big issue on many school campuses. The girls of Team 43 decided to focus on this important campus issue. The team created a video to educate their peers on why they shouldn’t bully each other. The team also plans on creating some posters to hang around their school to remind students not to bully.
Team 44, Menlo Park Boys and Girls Club, Menlo Park: Slam For Respect!
The girls of Menlo Park Boys & Girls Club held a poetry slam at the club for follow member about respect. The girls have written original poems that address the impact positive self-esteem can have on respect for you, but also for others. The girls believed that by having other club members participate in reading and sharing their words, a greater understanding around the important of respect will be created. They hoped to change some of the culture not only in the club, but also in their community.
Team 45, Fischer Middle School, San Jose: Redefining Beauty
Team 45 was tired of seeing their friends talk about themselves in a negative way. They saw how negative body-image affects their peers and want to work on increasing individual’s self-esteem. The team planned an entire Redefining Beauty Week. The girls first surveyed the student body to see how the felt and what work really needed to be done. They then created workshops for students to attend during the school day that focus on skills and tools for increasing self-esteem. The team also created posters to hang around the school during the week. They closed the week with an inner beauty fashion show.
Team 46, Oak Grove High School, San Jose: Myspace for Change
The girls of Team 46 chose to tackle the issue of harassment on their campus. The team felt it is a growing problem not being addressed. The team decided they needed to raise awareness and help inform their classmates about the issue. They created a Myspace page that provided facts and resources about harassment and where to get help. The team felt that harassment is the root cause of many serious issues and hoped that by raising awareness the amount of harassment incidents on campus will decrease.
Team 51, Monroe Middle School I, San Jose: Use Your Voice; Speak Out Campaign!
Team 51 felt very passionate about using their voices to create change and raise awareness. They decided to host a speak-out at their school on various concerning issues in their community. They invited the principal and their teachers and each presented out on their issue, two root causes, and their suggested solutions. They also designed posters to raise awareness about the importance of using your voice to speak out displayed them around the school for one week.
Team 52, Monroe Middle School II, San Jose: It’s Not Cool To Join a Gang The girls of Team 52 are fed up with gang violence in their community. The girls decided to create a t-shirt campaign with an anti-gang logo on it. They wore the t-shirts to school and explained to anyone who asked that they were promoting awareness about gangs as a problem in their community. They hoped that by creating wearing the t-shirts they would raise awareness about gang violence and the dangers of being in a gang.
Silicon Valley Girl Steering Committee
The Girl Steering Committee has devoted time this year to planning GFC girl events, speaking at networking events, and advocating for girl leadership. The girls emceed and planned Spring Into Action and the Completion Ceremony this year. They are the voices and the leadership body of the Girls For A Change Silicon Valley site.
SV Team Projects (2007-08)
Girls For A Change empowers young women to create change in their own communities with the guidance of adult women. About 5-10 girls and two women “coaches” meet from September through May as a Girl Action Team. Teams meet twice a month to decide how they will make a lasting change in their neighborhood, city or school. Below are projects girls throughout the Bay Area created and implemented in the 2007-08 program year.
Team 1, Dartmouth, West San Jose: The Green Message
Team 1 is working to ensure that all students of Dartmouth Middle School are educated on environmental issues and practices. The team worked with the school to gain permission to broadcast a bi-weekly Green Message next year. This message will highlight research, studies and articles to educate their peers about how to live a greener life. They want peers at their school to know that being a part of the solution to environmental issues is important. Team 1 intends to get this message across by beginning to implement their educational campaign during afternoon announcements.
Team 2, Herbert Hoover Middle School, Central San Jose: Creating a Hate-Free Zone: A Campaign to Stop People Hating for No Reason
The girls on Team 2 are tired of the way some of their peers treat each other. They decided to create a campaign to stop the hate. The girls want people to think twice before being disrespectful to each other. They designed a poster campaign at their school and placed informative posters in their library, hallways and cafeteria. The girls hope that these posters will inspire people to stop and think before they act in ways that might be hurtful to others. Team 2 also feels the posters will give students courage to stand up for themselves as well as break the cycle of hate.
Team 3, Pala Middle School, East San Jose: Teen Pregnancy
Team 3 feels that teen pregnancy is a big issue facing their community. They have partnered with Planned Parenthood and invited a mother who is a teenager to collaborate with them on the project. The team also made an informational video addressing the facts and statistics about teen pregnancy. Finally, the team created informational flyers and handed them out to teens in their community in order to prevent and reduce teen pregnancy in the future.
Team 4, Independence High School, East San Jose: Self-Esteem
Team 4 believes that how we feel about ourselves can play a huge part in the decisions that we make. And the girls of this team feel that physical exercise and movement can help increase girls’ self-esteem so that girls are making better decisions. The team made a video focused on healthy living choices like nutrition and exercise. The girls believe that by encouraging girls to have a healthier diet and make better exercise choices, girls will also make healthier choices in other parts of their lives.
Team 5, Sheppard Middle School, East San Jose: Do YOU Love Your Dog?
Team 5 has been researching the IAMS pet food company boycott. The company has been accused of mistreatment in the testing it does on dogs and cats for the food it produces. Team 5 wants to stand up for better conditions for the animals. The girls created flyers to educate people about the way IAMS treats dogs. The flyers also encourage people to join a boycott of IAMS pet food until the company changes its ways and to write letters to IAMS to end animal testing. Fliers were distributed by at local shopping center to shoppers passing by. The girls believe that their team efforts will lead to a more humane life for dogs.
Team 6, Los Altos High School, Los Altos: SOS @ Los Altos High School
Stress can have many detrimental effects on young people and the girls of Team 6 want to help their stressed out peers. They plan on partnering with Denise Pope and her Stressed Out Schools project to create some changes within their student culture. They feel this issue has become out of control at their school and this will give them an opportunity to talk it out and create a more peaceful and relaxed student body.
Team 7, Graham Middle School, Mountain View: Global Warming
Team 7 wants to make sure everyone knows that global warming is an issue that affects all of us. The girls developed a plan to educate their school and community on ways they can help fight climate change. The team fully researched the issue and then wrote an article for their school newspaper, Bear Tracks. They feel that by spreading the word they will encourage people to make better environmental choices.
Team 8, August Boeger Middle School, East San Jose: Cancer Awareness
The girls on Team 8 are committed to increasing awareness of cancer in their community. They created a goal to educate their school about cancer, prevention methods and the impact of cancer in our community and world. Through this educational awareness initiative they hope to encourage young people to live healthier lives and gain a deeper understanding of the issue. By partnering with Breast Cancer Action, the girls were able to facilitate presentations to the students at their school about cancer.
Team 9, Fremont High School, Sunnyvale: Educating the Community and the Homeless
Team 9 has noticed that their community needs a better understanding of the homeless population in order for them to mobilize around the issue. The girls hosted a community awareness event to educate the public about the issue. The event took place at their school in mid-May and included a girl-led presentation and a screening of the movie “In the Pursuit of Happyness.” The team also created supply kits with information on how to access resources and support for individuals who are currently without shelter.
Team 10, San Jose High Academy, Central San Jose: Immigration Education
The girls of Team 10 are committed to equal access to higher education for immigrant students. They feel that there is a lack of resources for immigrant families regarding access to higher education and that those families are unaware of the rights and resources available to their children. They partnered with a community agency to present a workshop geared toward high school juniors and seniors and their families in order to inform them of the resources available. They believe that by raising awareness of these issues more immigrant students will access higher education after leaving high school.
Team 11, Leadership Public Schools-Hayward: Taking Back Our Innocence
Team 11 is concerned about the number of teen pregnancies in its community and has taken action! The girls have created a MySpace page that features valuable information for girls about how to avoid teen pregnancy. The team visited Planned Parenthood to collect pamphlets on teenage health to incorporate into their page. They also made t-shirts to wear at their school on Teen Pregnancy Prevention Day on May 7th. Team 11 feels that through these combined awareness and education efforts, girls in their communities will be less likely to become pregnant at an early age.
Team 12, East Palo Alto Charter Middle School, East Palo Alto: Stop Sexual Harassment
The girls of Team 12 are taking a stand again against sexual harassment in their community. They have produced a video that depicts several characters experiencing sexual harassment. They believe that by showing what people go through when they are sexual harassed, it will challenge people to rethink how they treat each other. The team also received Yahoo!’s “Purple Act of Kindness” award and were given video and editing equipment to complete their project. The team took a field trip to Yahoo! where a team of professionals taught them video production techniques. The final video will be shown at various schools around EPA and may be featured on Yahoo for Good’s website.
Team 13, Overfelt High School, East San Jose: Trash Stinks
Team 13 feels that the physical condition of their neighborhood can impact how people think about themselves as members of that community. Too much trash and debris leads to negative thoughts and lack of respect for the community. The team organized a neighborhood clean-up and created a MySpace page to raise awareness and create action around this. They hope that by getting the community involved they have changed how people take care of their neighborhood and how they view their role in the community.
Team 14, Leadership Public School San Jose, East San Jose: Gay and Straight Alliance
Team 14 has witnessed the discrimination and bullying of students who are gay in their community. They are committed to ensuring that their school is a safe place for all students. The girls have created their school’s first Gay and Straight Alliance, a student run club that empowers youth to stop homophobia and transphobia in schools. The team feels that there is a need to create a safe place for students to be themselves as well as develop a place to begin to teach understanding and openness. Team 14 wants to challenge the way their peers think about each other and build a more inclusive student body.
Team 16, KIPP Bay Academy, San Francisco: What You Think About Child Abuse
The girls of Team 16 want to bring attention to an issue that they feel is not being openly discussed; Child Abuse. They plan on creating a video to show at their schools Family Night which will illustrate facts, statistics and the effects of Child Abuse. The team educated their community to prevent future abuse from happening, and provided people with the resources necessary to get help and support. The girls also posted their video on YouTube after their screening to continue raising awareness of this issue.
Team 17, KIPP San Jose Heartwood Academy I, East San Jose- Teen Pregnancy: What You Should Know
Peer pressure is a very powerful thing, and the girls of Team 17 feel that it is a major cause of teen pregnancy. The team created an educational campaign aimed at educating their community on how peer pressure influences teen pregnancy. The girls want their peers to think before acting and learn how to make more positive choices. They feel that by educating their peers they can create a culture where it is ok to make your own decision.
Team 18, St Elizabeth Seton Middle School, East Palo Alto: True Stories from California Immigrants
The Bay Area has a rich and diverse immigrant population. The girls of Team 18 feel that this population is often subjected to discrimination because people don’t understand the experience of these individuals. They decided to record and capture the real stories of those who have immigrated to this country and create a way to share their stories. The girls feel that by sharing immigrant’s stories through video, their community will gain a deeper understanding of each other and will begin to build a more inclusive environment.
Team 19, Pioneer Plus High School, West San Jose: Stop Gang Violence
Team 19 feels that young people in 5th-8th grades are at a vulnerable age where they can be persuaded to join gangs. They decided to create an action project to deter youth in this age group from joining a gang. The team created and conducted a survey for the young people in their community so the team could fully understand the scope of the gang problem. They have used the results of their survey in a letter writing campaign to elected officials and community leaders. The girls have also used the information collected to present a workshop about other options besides joining a gang.
Team 21, San Francisco 49ers Academy, East Palo Alto: Think Twice!
Thinking about getting pregnant early? The girls of Team 21 say “Think Twice!” Team 21 has put together a magazine that features teen mothers’ experiences with teen pregnancy. The girls also participated in the “Baby Think it Over” program, which involved taking fake babies home that cry when they need to be cared for. They also included their own experiences in this magazine along with pictures and writings that encourage other girls to “Think Twice!”
Team 23, Sobrato Family Living Center, Santa Clara: Anti-Jealousy March
The girls of Team 23 are tired of seeing jealousy amongst their peers. They feel that many terrible social problems are created because of jealousy and have decided to try to change the way people think about and react to each other. They made t-shirts and signs and in mid-May did an Anti-Jealousy March in their community that included a stop in a local park and shopping center. The girls hope that their march encouraged people will begin to think more about the negative effects of jealous behavior.
Team 24, Rancho Milpitas Middle School, Milpitas: Stop the Bullies
Team 24 is sick of the bullying at their school. They want their peers to gain a deeper understanding of how bullying affects students who are picked on at their school. They started a campaign inviting students to write in about their personal experiences either as being someone who bullies or someone who has been bullied. They compiled the submissions into a booklet and distributed them to the students and faculty at their school. They hope that by sharing stories they have begun a conversation about how to prevent and end the bullying at their school.
Team 25, East Palo Alto College Track, East Palo Alto: Improve Recycling at College Track
The girls of Team 25 are concerned about the lack of recycling in their community. They have decided to improve the recycling system at College Track and publicize their actions within the community to get others to do the same. Team 25 put decorated bins and signs around College Track to encourage people to recycle and created a presentation about their work to give at East Palo Alto’s Town Hall Meeting in May.
Team 26, Edison McNair Academy, East Palo Alto: Why People Bully and What You Can Do About It
The girls of Team 26 have recognized that bullying is taking place at their school because students are jealous, trying to entertain their peers, are bored or have low self-esteem. They felt that by creating an assembly for 5th graders they would bring awareness to this issue and provide support and resources for students at their school. At the assembly, they addressed what to do if you’re being bullied or if you witness someone bullying. They feel that by holding this event they have raised awareness and will begin to see a decrease in bullying.
Team 27, Sierrramont Middle School, San Jose: Great American Bake Sale
The girls of Team 27 are tired of child hunger in their nation. To raise awareness and educate their community, the girls of Team 27 organized a bake sale through The Great American Bake Sale, which they held at a public event at San Jose State University. By doing this, they educated people about the issue of hunger and were also able to raise money for local food agencies. Each item for sale included facts about hunger and ways for people to get involved.
Team 28, Cunha Middle School, Half Moon Bay- Cycles of Abuse
Team 28 wants their community to gain a deeper understanding of abuse issues. The girls created a play and partnered with their school drama teacher to perform at the school activity festival. The girls are looking to highlight self abuse, verbal abuse, and physical abuse. They feel that by bringing attention to these issues their peers will feel more comfortable to discuss these issues. During the festival they also hosted a booth with materials and resources for all participants.
Team 29, KIPP San Jose Heartwood Academy II, East San Jose: Stop in the Name of Sexual Harassment
The girls of Team 29 are tired of seeing sexual harassment in their communities. They believe that sexual harassment can be reduced by educating people in their community of the detrimental effects of sexual harassment. By performing a play and creating a slide show they illustrated to their peers and community members that the issue affects everyone. They hope that by doing this, they are one step closer to eliminating sexual harassment in their community.
Team 30, Gunderson High School, South San Jose: Earth Day Awareness Event
The girls of Team 30 want to ensure that their student body has the knowledge to make good environmental choices and that those students know they can impact environmental issues. The girls hosted an interactive Earth Day Awareness Fair for Gunderson High School. By using music, displays and sample products they ensured that their peers now have the knowledge and tools to lead a more environmentally-friendly life.
Team 31, Mission San Jose High School, Fremont: Be You; Be Beautiful
The girls of Team 31 say they are tired of the way women are portrayed in the media, because it leads to unrealistic expectations about beauty and self-esteem. They created a 30-second public service announcement that will be distributed on YouTube, MySpace and Cable TV in Fremont. The short message shares Team 31’s own vision of how women should be portrayed in the media. They hope to disseminate a message to thousands of people about “real” beauty and how to define and accept it.
Team 32, East Palo Alto Boys and Girls Club, East Palo Alto: Teen Pregnancy Education Initiative
The girls of team 32 have realized that Teen Pregnancy has become a large issue in their community. They also have seen that other Girl Action teams in their community are working on this issue as well. The team decided to create an event to bring together other Girl Action Teams to provide a platform for them to highlight their work. The girls feel that this will enable the teams to have their work spread even farther and raise more awareness about this pressing issue.
Team 34, Burnett Academy, Central San Jose: Healthy Relationships
The girls of Team 34 want to ensure that their peers are well educated about where they can find resources if they find themselves in an unhealthy relationship. They believe that middle school can be a difficult time for girls and the pressure to be in relationships can often lead girls making poor decisions about partners. The team partnered with the Bill Wilson Center in San Jose to create resource packets for 8th grade girls to ensure that everyone knows how and when to get help.
Team 35, LPS Campbell High, West San Jose: RESPECT
Team 35 wants to ensure that the women in their community understand these following components, R-rise up, E-encourage, S-speak, P-pride, E-empower, C-connect and T-together (RESPECT). The team held community discussions to inform the neighborhood on the issue of violence against women. The girls brought men and women together to talk about violence and how to stop the cycle.
Team 36, Ocala Middle School, East San Jose: Negative Body Image
Team 36 has witnessed and felt the effects of how women are portrayed within the media. The team interviewed young women at Santana Row, a San Jose shopping center, about how they feel about their bodies and how the media has influenced their perceptions. The girls used these interviews in order to produce a video to create awareness about the media’s effect on women’s body image. The team sent a final edited video with interviews and facts about women’s body image and the media to various media outlets so they can change the message that is being sent to young girls. Team 36 also handed out information to their video participants about the false expectations of beauty that is currently delivered in the media.
Team 38, Hillsdale High School, San Mateo: Stop Underage Drinking
The girls on Team 38 believe that underage drinking is prevalent in high schools. They want to create an environment where students can feel safe and comfortable saying “No” to drinking. The team created a video to post on YouTube that highlights the negative effects of alcohol and offers suggestions for alternative activities. They used this video to create awareness and let their peers know it is ok not to drink.
Team 41, Lionel Wilson Prep Middle School, Oakland: Understanding Femininity
The girls of Team 41 want to help girls struggling to understand their bodily changes during puberty. They want to help build girls’ sense of confidence during this awkward time in their lives. The team solicited donations from various feminine product companies and put together informational and supply kits, which were passed out at Monarch Elementary School in Oakland. They feel that by educating and preparing girls to understand their bodies, they may prevent many of the problems that often arise during this time leading to menstrual accidents, teen pregnancy, and STDs.
Team 42, Piedmont Hills High School, East San Jose: Battle of the Bands: Save Our School
The Berryessa Union School District is facing a budget crisis due to proposed changes in the state funding. Girls that now attend PHHS of the East Side Union High School District went to elementary and middle schools in Berryessa and their younger family members and friends are currently attending schools in that district. The district is anticipating cuts especially around its arts, library services, after-school, and sports programs. Team 42 feels that by creating a large community event they can bring attention to this issue and mobilize their community. The team plans on hosting a Battle of the Bands next year event to bring about awareness and show that the community supports its school programs.
Team 43, Sherman Oaks Elementary, Central San Jose: Teen Pregnancy
Team 43 has witnessed a great deal of teen pregnancy in their community. In order to change the behaviors and attitudes that contribute to teen pregnancy, Team 43 decided to inform their peers about how to prevent early pregnancy. The girls partnered with Planned Parenthood to become more educated about the issue as a team and worked together to create an information night for their school and community to share some of the causes and consequences of teen pregnancy. Team 43 also spread awareness through a short video to reach more people in their community and beyond.
Team 44, Menlo Park Boys and Girls Club: Rapping Against Rape
The girls of Team 44 think that rape is a terrible social problem that needs to be stopped! They want to reach out to their peers and those who have been victims of rape to help them to better understand the phenomenon. The girls have written a rap song about this issue and recorded a CD to give to other Boys and Girls Clubs. They hope that their peers will become better informed about how rape happens and how it can affect them and the people around them.
Team 45, Camp Kemp, San Mateo: Using Our Voices
Team 45 believes it can be difficult to find a safe place for girls to share their life experiences, so they worked on creating that safe place and allowing all girls to share their stories through poetry. After weeks of working on their poems the girls compiled their work into a magazine, and created art work to accompany their poems. The final magazine allowed the girls to share their life experiences and perspectives with other girls and staff at Camp Kemp for Girls.
Team 46, Silicon Valley Girl Steering Committee
The Girl Steering Committee has been actively involved in every GFC event this year! The girls were the main event planners for Spring Into Action and the Completion Ceremony, members of the committee facilitated a workshop and consultant training at Spring Into Action, emceed events, learned how to network with powerful business women and gained a deeper understanding of how to work together as leaders. Most of all, the Girl Steering Committee continues to shape the direction of Girls For A Change and how it will grow in years to come.
SV Team Projects (2006-07)
Here are projects the 44 Girl Action Teams across the Bay Area worked on in the 2006-07 program year.
Check out a video diary of the 2006-07 projects and coach messages here.
TEAM 1, DARTMOUTH MIDDLE SCHOOL, SOUTH SAN JOSE: ANIMALS 911
Team
1 wants to solve animal cruelty in their community. They produced a
video to inform the community on how best to treat animals and what is
considered mistreatment and cruelty of animals. They know that once
people are educated about how to treat animals, people will change
their behavior and we’ll have an animal-cruelty free world!
TEAM 2, VARIOUS SAN JOSE HIGH SCHOOLS, SAN JOSE: PREVENTING TEEN PREGNANCY AND CREATING CHOICES
The
girls on Team 2 feel that there is a lack of resources about safer sex
and unplanned pregnancies. The girls produced a video which raises
awareness about safer sex and choices girls have when it comes to
unplanned pregnancies. Raising awareness will empower girls to make
informed decisions if they are pregnant and to prevent premature
pregnancies.
TEAM 3, PALA MIDDLE SCHOOL, EAST SAN JOSE: STOP THE VIOLENCE
The
girls on Team 3 are tackling the violence they see on school campus and
in their community. They created a workshop on the causes of violence
and ways to prevent it for peers, teachers, parents, guardians, and
other members of the community. In order to create long lasting change,
the girls also created a Myspace page to reduce violence among their
peers!
TEAM 4, INDEPENDENCE HIGH SCHOOL, EAST SAN JOSE: WE ARE ALL BEAUTIFUL!
Team
4 understands the pressures teen girls have to look a certain way. They
know that breaking down messages and encouraging girls to celebrate
their diverse beauty is a way to combat the idea of prettiness that
they see in the media. They created their own media, a video, which
celebrates images of diverse girls and women and has tips on how to
have a positive body image. They showed the video to girls on campus
and hope to continue to show the video to more teen girls in order to
create a movement of young women who are able to see the beauty in all
shapes, colors, and sizes.
TEAM 5, SHEPPARD MIDDLE SCHOOL, EAST SAN JOSE: HAPPY, HEALTHY, AND CONFIDENT
The
girls have started the first after-school support group at their school
specifically focused on issues of body image. The girls discuss what a
healthy body image is and where they receive messages about how they
should look to feel beautiful. They believe this will lead to a higher
self esteem and to more success in other aspects of their lives such as
academics. They know that better educated young women with confidence
will create long lasting change now and in the future.
TEAM 6, LOS ALTOS HIGH SCHOOL, LOS ALTOS: HEALTH STARTS NOW!
Team
6 is changing the unhealthy eating and exercise habits that they see
among their peers. The girls created a “Health and Fitness Awareness
Week” at their school where experts in nutrition, yoga, Pilates, and
hip-hop dance came out to educate students on healthy eating habits and
creative ways to exercise. The girls believe that raising awareness
and providing fun ways to stay healthy will encourage students to start
making healthier choices early in life.
TEAM 7, GRAHAM MIDDLE SCHOOL, MOUNTAIN VIEW: IMMIGRANT RIGHTS, RIGHT NOW
Members
of Team 7 and their families are dealing with negative impacts of
immigration law. Girls have seen family members deported as part of
“Operation Return to Sender,” a program of the US Department of
Homeland Security. Many also see their families and other immigrant
families suffering from a lack of access to education, health, and
social services. The girls raised awareness on immigrant rights by
writing an article in the school newspaper. They also started a letter
writing campaign to local elected officials and the Governor of
California to share their experiences and to advocate for immigrant
families.
TEAM 8, AUGUST BOEGER MIDDLE SCHOOL, EAST SAN JOSE: THE TRUTH ABOUT CIGARETTE SMOKING
This
team was tired of hearing young people talk about smoking as a cool
thing to do. They know this comes from the fact that cigarette smoking
is glorified in advertising, music videos, television and movies. To
change the way their peers think and act when it comes to smoking, Team
8 wrote and presented a skit to students on their campus. The skit
informed students about the impacts of smoking on health. The girls
hope that educating others about the dangers of smoking will ultimately
decrease the cool factor and the amount of smokers in the world.
TEAM 9, CUPERTINO AND SUNNYVALE AREA HIGH SCHOOLS, CUPERTINO AND SUNNYVALE: DON’T JUDGE ME!
The
girls of Team 9 feel that it is unfair for people with disabilities to
be judged negatively. They created a You Tube video to encourage
others to look beyond a disability and see a person. Through t-shirts
displaying their You Tube URL, the team will share their video messages.
TEAM 10, SILVER CREEK HIGH SCHOOL, EAST SAN JOSE: HOMELESS YOUTH – ENDING THE STIGMA
Team
10 wants to end the stigma against the homeless youth in their
community. They visited homeless shelters and listened to stories of
how young people became homeless. They created a video of the
interviews which showed that the homeless youth have dreams and
feelings just like other teenagers. They showed the video at their
school and throughout their school district to encourage more
understanding and response to the homelessness in their community.
TEAM 11, LEADERSHIP PUBLIC SCHOOLS, HAYWARD: RECLAIMING OUR COMMUNITY
Team
11 is committed to making a difference in their community by bringing
awareness of the growing problem of gang violence to the surface. The
girls know that more gangs in their community means more violence and
drugs and less growth and development for youth. They created a
documentary video to persuade youth to stop joining gangs. The video
was shown at a parent/guardian night and a family/community night at
the school campus.
TEAM 12, EAST PALO ALTO CHARTER SCHOOL, EAST PALO ALTO: THE VIOLENCE STOPS NOW
Team
12 was deeply impacted by recent gang violence which led to several
deaths in their community. The girls created an interactive
presentation with a video and a skit to discuss alternatives to gang
life. Following the skit and video, girls led a Q & A session with
participants on the affects of violence and where to go for more
resources for violence prevention. The team also participated in
community peace rallies to unite youth and community members in the
struggle against gang violence.
TEAM 13, OVERFELT HIGH SCHOOL, EAST SAN JOSE: MIRRORS DON’T REFLECT WHAT’S INSIDE
Through
the creation, production, and deployment of a documentary video, the
girls of Team 13 will educate their peers on the negative impacts of
judging others solely based on appearances. The team used interviews
and filmed real-life situations where people judged each other to show
the negative impacts of judging, especially on self-esteem.
TEAM 14, GIRL STEERING COMMITTEE, VARIOUS SCHOOLS,
The
Girl Steering Committee is a unique opportunity for girls to hold a
position of leadership in the Girls For A Change organization. This
year the Steering Committee participated in the implementation of the
Girl Summit and planned Spring Into Action and the Completion Ceremony.
Steering Committee members are also voting members of the GFC Board of
Directors and Program Committee. The girls have been GFC spokesGIRLS
this year at house parties, networking nights, fundraisers and other
events. They have also planned and participated in leadership
development workshops on public speaking, college planning, career
planning, and financial planning.
TEAM 15, YERBA BUENA HIGH SCHOOL, EAST SAN JOSE: POWERFUL CHOICES: CAMPAIGN TO END TEEN SUBSTANCE ABUSE
Drugs
and alcohol are often wrongly used by teens to feel more popular, solve
problems or just out of curiosity. The girls of Team 15 campaigned
against the use of drugs and alcohol by painting a mural, performing
educational skits and distributing informational fliers. The message
was designed to prevent substance abuse by educating youth about the
consequences and long-term affects of drugs and alcohol.
TEAM 16, KIPP SAN FRANCISCO BAY ACADEMY, SAN FRANCISCO: EDUCATE YOURSELF
These
girls believe that a root cause of issues they want to change, like
homelessness, unemployment, and violence, is dropping out of school.
They know that education is a way to learn about yourself and the world
so that you can be a leader in your community. They partnered with
Definitive Education (DEF ED), an organization that promotes hip hop
values of acceptance, non-violence, creative self-expression, and
physical fitness to teach students to value art and the learning
process. With DEF ED, they created a video to share positive
educational experiences to encourage their peers to stay in school.
TEAM 17, MILLER MIDDLE SCHOOL, SAN JOSE: PEER PRESSURE PULVERIZED
The
girls on Team 17 know that students lose a lot of self-confidence and
self-esteem when they reach middle school. Part of why this happens is
because of peer pressure and a lack of training for youth on how to
manage that pressure. They created and presented a skit for local 4th
and 5th graders to show how to cope with peer pressure and how to make
healthy decisions.
TEAM 18, SAINT ELIZABETH SETON SCHOOL, PALO ALTO: CAMPAIGN TO END PEER PRESSURE
The
girls of Team 18 championed a strong self esteem and tackled peer
pressure at their school. They raised awareness about the affects of
peer pressure by creating fliers and giving presentations that will
encourage girls to feel more confident and comfortable to stand up
against the negative pressures of their peers.
TEAM 19, PIONEER PLUS, SAN JOSE: ANNUAL RETREAT TO SUPPORT YOUNG WOMEN ENTERING ADULTHOOD
The
young women of Team 19 feel that the education they receive in school
should be supplemented with “real life” learning such as problem
solving and decision making that they may encounter once they leave
high school. They started what they hope becomes an annual retreat at
their school. Every summer, they will hold a weekend retreat that will
teach young women life skills to better prepare them for the world
after high school.
TEAM 20, BALBOA HIGH SCHOOL, SAN FRANCISCO: NO MORE TRUANCY…NO MORE GANGS
The
girls on Team 20 are tired of gang activity and truancy at their
school. They know that students who cut class are more likely to engage
in risky behavior such as joining gangs. The girls produced 5 short
videos to encourage students to stay in school and to make healthy
choices about how they spend their time out of class. The girls
presented the videos on campus and to various schools within their
community.
TEAM 21, 49ERS ACADEMY. EAST PALO ALTO: THINK IT OVER
By
creating the “Think It Over” campaign the girls of Team 21 educated
their peers about making better choices about their sexual behavior.
The “Think It Over” campaign included role playing a single mother by
carrying a doll/baby for an entire weekend. The girls shared their
experiences through journaling and presentations to classes on campus
to encourage youth to think about the consequences of unsafe sexual
behavior.
TEAM 22, CESAR CHAVEZ MIDDLE SCHOOL, EAST PALO ALTO: CREATING SAFE SPACES
This
team identified the lack of a safe space for girls to communicate about
their daily struggles as a real problem at their school. They used
their team meetings to focus on personal development and growth, and
the coaches provided a space where the girls could express themselves
through art. The created collages, poetry, and dialogue to help girls
cope with issues of identity, body image, and relationships. The girls
can use these skills to help them transition to high school and beyond.
TEAM 23, VARIOUS SANTA CLARA SCHOOLS, SANTA CLARA: A GIRL’S LIFE
The
girls on Team 23 encounter gang violence, peer pressure, and bullying
everyday. They created a magazine with stories of their daily life, and
interviewed other girls in their communities for their magazine.
Through their magazine and sharing their personal stories, the girls
intend to help their peers grow by seeing stories they can relate to
and learn from. The girls on the team also know that using this
opportunity to express themselves will grow their own self confidence.
TEAM 24, RANCHO MILPITAS MIDDLE SCHOOL, MILPITAS: GANG PREVENTION IS COMMUNITY REINVENTION
This project will be updated soon.
TEAM 25, MILPITAS HIGH SCHOOL, MILPITAS: WHAT’S THAT SMELL? POLLUTION!
The
girls of Team 25 were tired of the bad smell on their campus. The girls
conducted research and found that the source of the smell was coming
from a polluted creek behind their campus. The girls started a letter
writing campaign to their local water company to find and put an end to
the main source of pollution.
TEAM 26, MERCY HIGH SCHOOL, SAN FRANCISCO: TERMINATING HUMAN TRAFFICKING
Team
26 girls want to put a stop to human trafficking. The girls researched
and compiled information about human trafficking and how youth can help
to end it. They distributed this information through informational
booths and pamphlets, and presentations at their school. Team 26 is
building a movement to end this inhumane treatment and educate other
youth on how to personally contribute to ending this practice.
TEAM 27, SIERRAMONT MIDDLE SCHOOL, SAN JOSE: CAMPAIGN : DID YOU KNOW?
The
girls of Team 27 want youth to know what their rights are and how to
use them. The girls created and distributed educational fliers, and
created an informational video to let students know what legal rights
they have if they are under 18. The girls believe that knowledge is
power and that once youth are informed of the rights they are entitled
to, the students will be able to flex their power.
TEAM 28, CUNHA INTERMEDIATE SCHOOL, HALF MOON BAY: THE POWER OF SAYING NO: ALCOHOL & DRUG PREVENTION
The
girls on Team 28 have seen the consequences of drug and alcohol abuse
in their community: job loss, dropping out of school, and interpersonal
problems. They tackled this substance abuse by creating an
informational website geared toward students and young adults in their
community. The website focuses on prevention of using alcohol and
drugs. Team 28 is empowering students to make healthy decisions now and
in the future.
TEAM 29, MOUNTAIN VIEW HIGH SCHOOL, MOUNTAIN VIEW: CAN’T HOLD US DOWN
The
girls from Team 29 feel that because of the media, girls are pressured
to obsess over their physical appearance and boys are pressured to act
tough. They created a video with statistics, images from magazines,
music video clips, and student interviews to create dialogue on how
media impacts gender relations and creates negative stereotypes of each
gender. After showing the video to audiences, girls lead interactive
discussions on the topic of gender roles and the media. At the end of
each session they provided audience members with action steps on how to
change what we see in the media.
TEAM 30, GUNDERSON HIGH SCHOOL, SOUTH SAN JOSE: PROTECTING OUR INNOCENCE
Team
30 knows the Internet is a powerful tool. These girls also know that
internet use by young people holds many dangers including adult
predators, identity theft situations, and financial scams. To increase
Internet regulation and student safety, the team held a Parent and
Faculty Conference. They reviewed the district’s policies on Internet
use and also showed a video they made with student interviews and
statistics on incidents of unsafe and unregulated Internet use.
Finally, the girls created a training manual for faculty and
guardians/parents with tips on safe Internet usage. They believe that
students, guardians/parents, and school officials can work together to
utilize the power of the Internet in a safe way and prevent youth from
becoming victims of dangerous situations.
TEAM 31, MISSION SAN JOSE HIGH SCHOOL, FREMONT: EDUCATING OUR COMMUNITY ON DARFUR
Team
31 wants more people to know about the current genocide in the Darfur
region of Sudan. They partnered with Sudan Reach, an organization
dedicated to promoting positive change in women's lives in Sudan, to
host an information night for youth and adults in their community. The
evening included speakers and a documentary screening highlighting the
history of the genocide and action steps that we can take from the
United States to put a stop to it. Proceeds from the event will be
donated to Sudan Reach to support women who are working to empower
themselves and to end the genocide.
TEAM 32, EAST PALO ALTO BOYS AND GIRLS CLUB/EDISON-MCNAIR ACADEMY, EAST PALO ALTO: DON’T BE FOOLED
Girl
Action Team 32 has seen enough. They are tired of their peers joining
gangs because it seems like “the cool thing to do” and because youth
are unsure of where to find outlets to express themselves. The team
created a magazine with information about alternatives to gangs, like
participating in after school programming and using creative expression
as a tool to strengthen self esteem. The girls hosted a release party
of the magazine that brought together parents/guardians, school
officials, and youth. The team believes that this is just the start of
the community uniting to guide youth to positive community activities.
TEAM 33, PRESENTATION HIGH SCHOOL, SAN JOSE: ACTIVATE THE YOUTH!
The
girls from Team 33 want to educate youth about unhealthy lifestyles
that lead to obesity. The girls created a curriculum around proper
nutrition which they are implementing at a local middle school. The
girls know that once students have the information they need to make
healthy food choices they will be less likely to become obese thus
decreasing weight related health risks in their adulthood.
TEAM 34, BURNETT ACADEMY, CENTRAL SAN JOSE: NO MORE VIOLENCE
This
Team is fed up with gang violence in their community. They are
preventing their peers from joining gangs by making students aware of
the negative consequences associated with gang life. They wrote a
script, acted in, and produced a video that was shown to the 6th
graders at their school. The girls believe that now that their peers
are informed about the realities of gangs and the impact gang violence
has on the community, they will not want to join gangs.
TEAM 36, OCALA MIDDLE SCHOOL, EAST SAN JOSE: RECYCLING FOR OUR FUTURE
Team
36 is tired of pollution and other large problems like global warming.
They decided to get students on their campus to recycle in order to
build life-long habits of taking care of our planet. They worked with
the City of San Jose to bring a recycling program to their school. They
educated their peers on how and why to recycle in order to create a
cleaner campus as well as awareness about pollution and the environment.
TEAM 37, RUSSELL MIDDLE SCHOOL, MILPITAS: OPERATION: STOP GOSSIP
These
girls believe that many of the fights and broken friendships at their
school result from rumors and talking about other people. The girls
created a campaign to encourage students to stop talking negatively
about others. The campaign included creating t-shirts that read, “Stop
Gossip!” The girls educated students on campus about the negative
impacts of gossiping while wearing their t-shirts and passing out
ribbons to students who joined their campaign.
TEAM 38, HILLSDALE HIGH SCHOOL, SAN MATEO: SHATTERING STEREOTYPES
“Just
Because I’m A ___, It Doesn’t Mean I’m A ____” is this Team’s slogan.
These girls are tired of the stereotyping they see on campus. They
organized assemblies featuring speakers and performers who encouraged
students to not judge others based on assumptions. By sharing skills on
how to approach people with open minds at a young age, the girls of
Team 38 hope to bring people from different backgrounds together to
work for positive community change.
TEAM 39, LIONEL WILSON PREP ACADEMY, EAST OAKLAND: STOP THE VIOLENCE, STOP THE SILENCE
The
girls of Team 39 believe that people need to NOT be silent about abuse.
They created an after school program for students to dialogue on the
impacts of abuse in their community. They also used this group to learn
about different types of abuse and how to prevent it in their lives.
This team believes that speaking about the issue will ignite community
action to prevent a cycle of abuse.
TEAM 40, LIONEL WILSON PREP ACADEMY, EAST OAKLAND: LOVE YOURSELF SO THAT OTHERS MAY LOVE YOU
One
of the root causes of teen pregnancy that Team 40 identified was that
many young women want to feel loved and to try and satisfy that want
girls give in to having sex before they are ready. The girls on the
team decided to educate their peers on exploring healthy alternatives
to give and receive love. The also talked about safe sex options if
that is how girls decide to show love. The team created two skits with
information about self-love, self-esteem, healthy communication for
couples, and information about safe sex and pregnancy prevention. The
skits were shown during a school assembly and advisory classes. The
team believes that their skits move the discussion from “don’t do it”
or “protect yourself” to the fundamental of making healthy choices from
a place of loving yourself.
TEAM 41, LIONEL WILSON PREP ACADEMY, EAST OAKLAND: WEEK OF WOMEN, WEEK OF POWER
The
girls on Team 41 don’t like how girls are treated differently than
boys. They know this comes from a lack of awareness of women who are
leaders in professional, political and entertainment worlds. They
created a week where a different woman was honored every day– from
Barbara Lee to Oprah. They spread information through informational
pamphlets, skits, and tabling in order to get students and teachers to
start viewing girls as the powerful people they are!
TEAM 42, JOHN O’CONNELL HS, SAN FRANCISCO: THE TRICKS OF MILITARY RECRUITING
Team
42 aimed to educate students, administrators and parents/guardians
about tactics military recruiters use at the high school level to get
students to enlist in the Armed Forces. The girls shared their personal
experiences with military recruiters and researched what they believe
are tricks that the recruiters use to get students to join. Through
their research they found that students of color and students from low
income communities are often specifically targeted. The girls believe
that these tricks used by recruiters lead to young people making
choices based on false information. They hope to raise awareness so
that young people, especially young people of color from low income
communities, are making informed and empowered choices about their
futures.
TEAM 43, SHERMAN OAKS ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, CENTRAL SAN JOSE: GIRLS STANDING UP
The
girls of Team 43 are working for equality on campus. The girls created
a skit and performed it at their school to raise awareness about the
unfair treatment of girls by boys. The girls encouraged other girls to
stand up for themselves and provided examples of how young women can
stand up to those treating them unfairly. The skits also shared how
boys can change their behavior. Team 43 knows that gender equality
needs to start at a young age and can change the way boys and girls
treat each other when they are men and women.
TEAM 44, MENLO PARK BOYS & GIRLS CLUB, EAST MENLO PARK: ABUSE KNOWS NO AGE
Team
44 wants to stop abuse in their community. The girls partnered with New
Voices for Youth, an organization which assists young people in media
production for social change, to produce a video which raised awareness
about different types of abuse and provided resources for how to
prevent it. The video included real life testimonials from abuse
survivors. The team showed the video to local community centers and
schools in their district.
TEAM 45, MILPITAS HIGH SCHOOL, MILPITAS: INDEPENDENT CHICAS
Team
45 has created a webpage where girls can go to discuss issues that are
important to them: body image, school, family, friends, relationships,
and more. The team meets regularly to review questions sent to the
website and replies with empowering advice. The girls on Team 45 know
that they are helping girls around the world to make wise decisions and
to feel better about themselves so that they can grow into strong and
powerful leaders in their communities.
SV Team Projects (2005-06)
Here are projects Girl Action Teams across the Bay Area worked on in the 2005-06 program year:
TEAM 1, DARTMOUTH MIDDLE SCHOOL, SOUTH SAN JOSE: PREVENTING HOMELESSNESS THROUGH EDUCATION
The
girls of Team 1 believe that by educating middle school and high school
students about the importance of education and not doing drugs, they
will help alleviate homelessness. They understand that substance abuse
can lead to homelessness for some. The girls wrote a script, created a
story board and directed a short film to present to middle and high
school students about the dangers of drug use and the value of
education.
TEAM 2, VARIOUS SAN JOSE HIGH SCHOOLS, SAN JOSE: PREVENTING TEEN PREGNANCY AND EXPLORING CHOICES
Team
2 feels that there is a lack of resources about safer sex and unplanned
pregnancies. The girls want to raise awareness about safer sex and
choices girls have when it comes to unplanned pregnancies. They are
creating a webpage that provides links to other informative sites and
includes options for girls who become pregnant along with prevention
information.
TEAM 3, BOYNTON HIGH SCHOOL, CENTRAL SAN JOSE: PLANNING FOR A DIFFERENT FUTURE
This
team focused on personal development and growth and the coaches
provided a space where the girls could work on planning for next steps
in their life. The girls expressed a need for having adults in their
life that could listen, so the team met to share experiences and offer
support to each other. The coaches and girls also worked together on
interview skills, planning for college and following through on goals
upon graduation from high school.
TEAM 4, INDEPENDENCE HIGH SCHOOL, EAST SAN JOSE: CHOOSING FRIENDS WISELY
Friendships
can be empowering and they can also lead to bad choices from peer
pressure. Team 4 is working on a presentation and a website to
encourage healthy friendships and share real experiences of friends who
have helped each other. The girls know that having supportive
friendships can help more students make better choices throughout their
high school years.
TEAM 6, LOS ALTOS HIGH SCHOOL, LOS ALTOS: NO MORE “MEAN GIRLS”
Team
6 wants to empower girls with confidence and self-esteem so that they
are able to stand up to “mean girls” in school. They will create change
in their school by presenting an hour-long workshop to incoming
freshman girls at the Los Altos High School orientation session in
August. The presentation will focus on building positive relationships
between girls.
TEAM 7, GRAHAM MIDDLE SCHOOL, MOUNTAIN VIEW: PROVIDING GIRLS WITH RESOURCES ABOUT SELF-ESTEEM
The
girls of Team 7 understand the pressure for girls to look and act a
certain way, and how that pressure can lead to low self-esteem and a
painful middle school experience. They empowered 4th and 5th grade
girls at Slater Elementary school through a seminar. The seminar had
four stations that each addressed a different aspect of self-esteem.
The seminar included interactive exercises that allowed girls to
express and explore their feelings around self-esteem.
TEAM 8, AUGUST BOEGER MIDDLE SCHOOL, EAST SAN JOSE: STOPPING THE NAME CALLING AT SCHOOL
These
girls believe that many of the fights and broken friendships at their
school result from rumors, name calling and talking about other people.
The girls created one day at the school where students were encouraged
to stop name-calling and stop talking negatively about others. The
girls were role models on “Don’t Hate Appreciate Day” by wearing
special t-shirts and being leaders in the effort. They also presented
to Ida Jew Elementary School students about the issue and encouraged
the students there to participate in the movement.
TEAM 9, CUPERTINO AND SUNNYVALE AREA HIGH SCHOOLS, CUPERTINO AND SUNNYVALE: READERS BECOME LEADERS
Team
9 feels that the lack of academic achievement in literacy at Hoover
Elementary School in Redwood City is caused by the lack of resources.
The girls learned that 3rd grade test scores are used to determine the
number of prisons built in the U.S. They want to reach out to youth as
this pivotal time for learning. The girls raised more than $1,000 to
purchase 5 classroom sets of books covering science and history topics
and visited the school to tutor the students.
TEAM 10, WILLOW GLEN HIGH SCHOOL, WEST SAN JOSE: FOOD FOR THOUGHT
The
girls on this team want to reduce the occurrences of disease and
obesity related to unhealthy eating habits. Since 6th grade students
have the option to purchase sodas and candy in vending machines at
school, the girls taught students at Willow Glen Middle School healthy
eating habits and how to make good food choices. They created a video
and a presentation that addressed the effects of unhealthy eating
habits. They also handed out facts on healthy snacks and how to spread
the word on healthy eating to friends and family.
TEAM 11, LOS GATOS HIGH SCHOOL, LOS GATOS: SUPPORT FOR DEALING WITH THE PRESSURES OF LIFE
Drug
use that starts at an early age can lead to unhealthy choices. The
girls on Team 11 have seen the direct effects of drug use on people who
are close to them and want to spread the word about how to stay away
from drugs and get support rather than turning to drugs. The team
created a workshop about the consequences of drug use and how to deal
with pressures from school, family and friends.
TEAM 12, EAST PALO ALTO CHARTER SCHOOL, EAST PALO ALTO: TEEN PREGNANCY PREVENTION & AWARENESS
Teen
pregnancy is an issue that Team 12 wants to educate their peers about.
They want to reduce teen pregnancy by increasing awareness. They
collected information and spoke with teen moms to create comprehensive
learning materials and joined teenpregnancy.org in their efforts to
spread the word about pregnancy prevention during the national movement
in May. They want girls to be able to make informed decisions about
their bodies.
TEAM 13, OVERFELT HIGH SCHOOL, EAST SAN JOSE: STARTING EARLY TO PREVENT TEEN PREGNANCY
Team
13 is empowering girls to make better decisions when it comes to sex,
the prevention of pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections (STIs).
They feel that self-esteem and not being able to say no to partners are
problems to address with middle school and high school students. The
girls have learned about program development from Planned Parenthood
and created their own program for middle school students. They also
handed out pregnancy prevention information to students at their high
school.
TEAM 14, MOUNTAIN VIEW HIGH SCHOOL, MOUNTAIN VIEW: HAPPY, HEALTHY, AND CONFIDENT
The
girls of Team 14 understand how the media contributes to negative body
image for girls. They know that breaking down messages and encouraging
girls to celebrate their diverse beauty is a way to combat the idea of
prettiness that has been created by the media. They also believe they
can reduce the consequences of trying to achieve this prettiness, such
as eating disorders. They presented a workshop on positive body image
and health to girls at Graham Middle School so that more girls enter
high school with a positive view of themselves.
TEAM 15, LEADERSHIP PUBLIC SCHOOLS, EAST SAN JOSE: STOP THE VIOLENCE, STOP THE SILENCE
The
name for this team’s project is, “Stop the Violence, Stop the Silence”
– a statement rooted in the idea that people should NOT be silent about
abuse. Team 15 wants more people to speak out about physical abuse so
communities can be transformed. They are holding a community event to
educate the public and encourage dialogue between all members of the
community about this devastating issue that is often not talked about.
TEAM 16, MT. PLEASANT HIGH SCHOOL, EAST SAN JOSE: HOMELESS YOUTH – ENDING THE STIGMA
Team
16’s project addressed the stigma of homeless youth. They have created
a documentary that features true stories of local homeless youth, plus
interviews with aid organizations and other people who interact with
homeless youth. The girls on the team have learned that homeless youth
are humans that have the same needs, fears and dreams as other
teenagers. They will be showing their documentary to adults and youth
in order to change the way homeless youth are treated.
TEAM 17, MILLER MIDDLE SCHOOL, SAN JOSE: WHERE DOES YOUR MEAT COME FROM?
Team
17 wants people to be aware of the source of meat products they
consume. The girls’ research shows that consumption in the U.S. and
abroad has increased dramatically and to keep up with demand corporate
farms may not be treating animals humanely. They feel that when people
become aware of the different methods of meat processing, they will no
longer support the assembly line method. They are creating a website
called “Do You Know the Difference?” to educate people on different
forms of farming and meat processing and give examples of alternative
product consumers can buy.
TEAM 18, SAINT ELIZABETH SETON SCHOOL, PALO ALTO: MAKING POSITIVE CHOICES FOR A BETTER FUTURE
The
girls from Saint Elizabeth Seton School want to educate their peers
about low self-esteem, which can lead to poor choices. The girls hope
to educate their peers about making positive decisions so youth can
avoid being a part of the juvenile justice system. They are working on
a presentation at their school that will help increase self esteem that
includes an original song and dance, sharing personal experiences and
letting students know about resources available.
TEAM 19, ALTA VISTA HIGH SCHOOL, MOUNTAIN VIEW: PUTTING AN END TO VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN
This
team was appalled at the amount of trafficking and violence that
continues to happen to women in the world. The girls researched the
aspects of this issue and learned more about it to start an education
awareness campaign among their peers. This grassroots awareness will
encourage more discussion on the topic in the community so that more
action can be taken to stop it worldwide.
TEAM 20, EAST PALO ALTO HIGH SCHOOL, EAST PALO ALTO: WHAT DRUGS DO TO YOU INSIDE AND OUT
Students
at school often talk about their drug use openly when discussing what
they did on the weekend. The girls also hear drug use glorified in
music and see it in music videos. They are making posters to put up
around East Palo Alto to show young people what drugs can do to your
body inside and out. They are also writing letters to music producers
to encourage them to take drug references out of the music that is
marketed to teens.
TEAM 21, 49ERS ACADEMY. EAST PALO ALTO: HEY WILD 94.9!, STOP “HOMELESS HOLLYWOOD”
The
girls of Team 21 are fed up with the way homeless people are ridiculed
on the morning show game called “Homeless Hollywood” aired on local
radio station 94.9. They want the game off the air. The girls gathered
signatures at the local malls to raise awareness about how the game
disrespects homeless people. With those signatures, they wrote a letter
from the community to the radio station requesting that the show be
stopped. They are working with youth media organizations to continue
their effort to remove the show from the airwaves.
TEAM 22, EVERGREEN VALLEY HIGH SCHOOL, SOUTH SAN JOSE: STARTING COMMUNITY DIALOGUE ABOUT ABUSE
The
goal of Team 22’s project is to make the public aware of the
seriousness of domestic abuse. The girls are putting on a community
event in order to raise money for battered women. At the event, they
will encourage participants to start discussions about domestic abuse,
what resources are available in the community to stop it and how to
help friends and family who are affected by it.
TEAM 23, VARIOUS SANTA CLARA SCHOOLS, SANTA CLARA: WRITING TO STOP PET NEGLECT
These
creative girls have created illustrated children’s booklets that they
are reading to kids in libraries and schools. This book will help youth
understand how to properly take care of pets and what happens to
animals when they are neglected. They want to teach youth what pet
neglect means at a young age, so that their will be less instances of
this animal abuse in the future.
TEAM 24, RANCHO MILPITAS MIDDLE SCHOOL, MILPITAS: ENDING SEXUAL HARASSMENT IN OUR COMMUNITY
The
girls of Team 24 feel that expressing their personal experiences with
sexual harassment will build awareness about the issue. They developed
an article to be posted in the opinion section of local Milpitas
newspapers describing personal experiences with sexual harassment
during school and after school. Their goal is to make people aware
that this goes on in a “safe” town like Milpitas and happens to girls
as young as 11-13. They are building a community of support which they
will use in developing an anti-sexual harassment campaign next year.
TEAM 25, MILPITAS HIGH SCHOOL, MILPITAS: RESOURCES FOR TEENAGE GIRLS
The
girls from Team 25 want to empower teenage girls through sharing
knowledge on a variety of issues that teens struggle with daily. They
created a website called independentchica.com with information on
common teen issues. The website includes a section where visitors to
the site can email thoughts and questions to the team. All members of
the team are certified peer counselors and answer the questions that
are sent to them using the knowledge they learned in peer counselor
training.
TEAM 26, CALAVERAS HILLS HIGH SCHOOL, MILPITAS: GETTING INFO TO TEENS ABOUT SUICIDE AND DEPRESSION
The
girls from Team 26 identified a gap in the large number of suicide and
depression support programs that exist in the Bay Area, and the number
of youth who knew about these programs. They decided to get the
information about support programs to a place where young people would
actually see it: myspace.com®. They researched information and
available resources and have created an interactive information page
and blog about suicide and depression to offer support to their peers.
TEAM 27, SIERRAMONT MIDDLE SCHOOL, SAN JOSE: WE ARE ALL BEAUTIFUL!
The
girls from Team 27 are tired of seeing girls suffer from negative self
image. They know this is caused in part by a lack of positive support
for girls, so they are creating a webpage to promote better
self-confidence and self- image. They call it W.A.A.B Web (We Are All
Beautiful). The site will have resources and build awareness to promote
positive self-image. It will be a space for girls to meet and express
themselves in a positive way.
TEAM 28, CAMDEN COMMUNITY DAY SCHOOL, SAN JOSE: BUILDING COMMUNITY AT OUR SCHOOL
The
girls on this team go to a school where the majority of students are
boys so they focused on community building at their school. The girls
wanted to create a space for themselves that was safe, allowed them to
share experiences and give each other support. The girls met with their
coach during the school day to do projects that impacted their personal
lives and increased their self awareness.
TEAM 29, MOUNTAIN VIEW HIGH SCHOOL, MOUNTAIN VIEW: HOW MEDIA IMPACTS GENDER RELATIONSHIPS
The
girls from Team 29 feel that because of the media, girls are pressured
to obsess over their physical appearance and boys are pressured to act
tough. They created a video showing popular images from music videos
and commercials, and then showed the video to students at their high
school. The team interviewed the students to get their reaction to the
video and how the images impact girls, boys and relationships between
boys and girls. The girls edited the interviews into the final video
and are showing it to health classes at the school.
TEAM 30, GUNDERSON HIGH SCHOOL, SOUTH SAN JOSE: SHARING STORIES ABOUT BODY IMAGE
This
high school team knows that girls and women are impacted by what they
hear and see about beauty. The girls of Team 30 are collecting stories
from each girl on the team, their coaches, friends and family about
experiences with body image. The letters will be compiled and sent to
magazines and newspapers to encourage others to think about body image
and how we can support each other in developing more positive views of
our bodies.
TEAM 31, MISSION SAN JOSE HIGH SCHOOL, FREMONT: SUPPORTING GIRLS AS THEY TRANSITION TO HIGH SCHOOL
The
girls from Team 31 want younger girls to understand and celebrate their
power. In April, they hosted a one day self-esteem summit at Chadbourne
Elementary School. To build on the relationships they formed with
younger girls at the event, they are creating a network of support,
called Sister to Sister. The girls from the team will serve as guides
for the younger girls as they transition from middle school to high
school. The team also held a parent/guardian night to explain the
summit and their commitment to supporting younger girls.
TEAM 32, EAST PALO ALTO BOYS AND GIRLS CLUB, EAST PALO ALTO: PUTTING AN END TO CHILD ABUSE
Team
32 wants more people to know about child abuse and how to stop it. They
know that students who are abused are often embarrassed to talk about
the issues so they created a presentation for elementary school
students. The presentation includes an innovative bingo game the girls
developed to help students learn more about abuse and how to get help
or help a friend. They made their first presentation in May to students
at the Boys and Girls Club and plan to make more presentations to
schools in the future.
TEAM 33, PRESENTATION HIGH SCHOOL, SAN JOSE: ENCOURAGING YOUTH TO GET ACTIVE!
The
girls from Team 33 want to educate youth about unhealthy lifestyles
that lead to obesity. They created a program to teach elementary school
students about the importance of physical activity and healthy eating
habits so the students will continue these habits in to adulthood. The
girls are presenting the workshop at a local school and will raise
money to donate sports equipment to the school.
TEAM 34, BURNETT ACADEMY, CENTRAL SAN JOSE: CREATING A SAFE HAVEN FOR DISCUSSIONS ABOUT ASSAULT
The
girls of Team 34 are sick of sexual assault happening in communities.
Through the development of their project, the girls have started to
explore their personal experiences with this issue. They use meetings
to share stories and learn more about how to support each other. They
will continue to create a safe space in their meetings for these
discussions and encourage girls around them to find other girls and
adults to talk to about the problem.
TEAM 35, WILLOW GLEN MIDDLE SCHOOL, WEST SAN JOSE: EDUCATING THE PUBLIC ON ANIMAL ABUSE
Protecting
animals is important to the girls on Team 35. They created posters,
fliers, and business cards to educate people on how to protect and be
kind to animals. They distributed their materials in the community and
hung the posters in local businesses, the SPCA and schools. They want
to change the way the public views animals and provide ways for people
to learn about the issue so less animals will be mistreated.
TEAM 36, OCALA MIDDLE SCHOOL, EAST SAN JOSE: SCHOOL UNITY AND PRIDE THROUGH ART
The
girls from Team 36 created a mural project to combat stereotypes and
bring unity to the school. They call their project “Creative Girl
Power.” They hope to increase school spirit by having students involved
in the creation of the mural. They believe that students will show more
respect for their school and be encouraged to learn in the positive
atmosphere that will be created through this project.
TEAM 37, RUSSELL MIDDLE SCHOOL, MILPITAS: RAISING AWARENESS ABOUT DOMESTIC VIOLENCE
Domestic
violence is an issue that the girls from Team 37 feel strongly about.
They want their peers to know what to do if they ever witness violence,
are in an unhealthy relationship or have peers who are affected by
domestic violence. The girls sold wristbands to students and used the
sales transaction to inform students about domestic violence and where
to go for more information. The proceeds of the wrist bands will be
donated to a local battered women’s shelter.
TEAM 38, CUPERTINO HIGH SCHOOL, CUPERTINO: HUGS NOT DRUGS
One of
the problems that affect youth in Cupertino is drug use. Students often
use drugs to escape problems and social and academic pressure. The
girls from Team 38 created a program that includes skits to help youth
learn about the effects of drugs. They also gave advice on how to deal
with stress and pressure so youth can avoid using drugs as an escape.
TEAM 39, PALO ALTO HIGH SCHOOL, PALO ALTO: THE FABRIC OF OUR LIVES
The
girls of team 39 are fed up with the lack of awareness among consumers
about sweatshop labor. They will raise awareness and create behavioral
changes through audio and visual media presentations at their school.
They will interview people who work in sweatshops and use this
firsthand testimony to encourage their peers to petition for labor
reforms and stay away from companies that use sweatshops.
TEAM 40, SANTA CRUZ AREA SCHOOLS, SANTA CRUZ: GIRLS ON BODY IMAGE
The
website created by the team last year, girlsonbodyimage.org, has
received 5-8 questions from visitors to the site each month. The girls
on the team continue to answer questions submitted by women and girls
from states around the U.S. The girls are providing a safe place where
anyone can ask questions they do not feel comfortable asking other
people.
TEAM 41, BURLINGAME HIGH SCHOOL, BURLINGAME: PAST: PREVENTING ALCOHOL SADNESS IN TEENS
The girls on Team 41 have been impacted by death amongst their peers
due to drinking and driving. They are tired of seeing kids as young as
10 years old be pressured into drinking and as a result make harmful
choices. They researched statistics on alcohol abuse among teens and
then produced a short movie showing the dangers of drinking and the
pressure for young people to drink in order to be cool. They presented
the workshop and video to students at Bowditch Middle School so they
can make informed and empowered choices about alcohol use.
TEAM 42, SAN ANTONIO ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, EAST SAN JOSE: BRINGING STUDENTS TOGETHER THROUGH DANCE
In
order for their peers to get along better and make the school a better
place for everyone, the girls from Team 42 started an after school
dance class. Every Wednesday after school they teach a dance class for
4th, 5th and 6th graders. They believe that by offering an activity
that will bring students together, it will create a more positive
school atmosphere where students support each other and create
friendships.
TEAM 43, SHERMAN OAKS ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, CENTRAL SAN JOSE: CAMPAIGNING FOR HEALTHY LUNCH CHOICES
The
girls on the team want healthy lunch choices at their school. They did
research on healthy foods that could be offered for lunch and then
started a petition among students to encourage all students to request
change. They will also meet with their principal to present the
petition and their research. They will ask for the school incorporate
better choices for students in the school cafeteria including fresh
fruits and vegetables.
TEAM 44, HILLSDALE HIGH SCHOOL, SAN MATEO: RAISING AWARENESS PROTECTION FOR EVERYONE
The
girls from Hillsdale High want to make sure that their female peers
have the tools they need to defend themselves. They started a program
called R.A.P.E, Raising Awareness Protection for Everyone. They held an
assembly where victims of rape spoke about their experiences. A
self-defense demonstration was shown as well and then students were
offered a chance to sign up for a self-defense class.
TEAM 45, SANTA CLARA HIGH SCHOOL, SANTA CLARA: BUILDING COMMUNITY WITH HOMELESS YOUTH
The
girls of Team 45 are interviewing staff at local shelters to learn more
about the issue of homeless youth. The girls are also developing a
training for themselves to learn more about the issues youth face that
may lead them to be homeless. The team hopes that their knowledge of
this issue will allow them to create friendships with homeless youth
and pass on messages of empowerment. The girls will also raise money
for care packages for the youth they meet at the shelter.
TEAM 46, SAN FRANCISCO AREA HIGH SCHOOLS, SAN FRANCISCO: RESPECT FOR ALL
The
girls of Team 46 have noticed an increase in the number of mistreated
and homeless animals. They are working with the SPCA to educate
students at their schools about how to properly care for animals. They
researched animal cruelty patterns and worked with the SPCA to develop
posters teaching students how to prevent the mistreatment and
abandonment of animals. They displayed the posters at several San
Francisco high schools.
TEAM 47, YERBA BUENA HIGH SCHOOL, EAST SAN JOSE: GANG PREVENTION 6
The
girls from Yerba Buena High School are preventing their peers from
joining gangs by making students award of the negative consequences
associated with gang life. They call their program “G.P.6” which stands
for Gant Prevention for 6th-graders. The team wrote and produced a skit
about the consequences of gang involvement and designed and painted a
cloth mural that illustrates what a life can look like without gang
involvement. They presented the workshop to students at Meadows
Elementary School this year.
TEAM 48, LIONEL WILSON PREP ACADEMY, EAST OAKLAND: IMPROVING SCHOOL CLIMATE
The
girls from Team 48 are putting a stop to graffiti and stealing at their
school. They created surveys for 7th, 9th and 11th graders to find out
why students are disrespecting the school and each other. When they
presented their project to their principal, he asked the girls to
survey the entire school. The girls then surveyed all students and
collected and analyzed the data. Next they will present their findings
and ideas for improving their school culture to administrators in order
to develop a school wide plan for action.
TEAM 49, LIONEL WILSON PREP ACADEMY, EAST OAKLAND: UNITED ROOTS PEER SUPPORT SYSTEM
United
Roots is the team name for girls from Team 49. They have found a space
in GFC to express themselves and support each other. They want to
create the same kind of space for students at their school. They have
created a peer counseling program that will enhance self-esteem among
students by providing a place for students to express their feelings
and create trustful relationships with adults and other students. The
girls plan to begin the Peer Counseling program in the fall of 2006.
TEAM 50, LIONEL WILSON PREP ACADEMY, EAST OAKLAND: TRANSFORMING VIOLENCE INTO CREATIVITY
Starting
next fall, students at Lionel Wilson will have an after school art
program thanks to the girls from Team 50. The team, also know as the
“Miracle Makers,” feels that students need a way to creatively express
the violence they see everyday. The art program will be for all
students and the girls will include education about how to keep
violence out of the community during their weekly art classes.
TEAM 51, CASTILLEJA SCHOOL, PALO ALTO: EDUCATING OUR COMMUNITY ON DARFUR
The
girls of Team 51 are raising awareness about the genocide in Darfur.
They have created an educational pamphlet educating their peers about
the situation and ways to take action. They sold t-shirts that say
“Save Darfur,” and have website addresses where people can find more
information. They money earned from selling t-shirts will be donated to
an organization that supports education of women and children refugees
in the Darfur region. The girls also mobilized students from their
school to attend an awareness raising rally about the region in San
Francisco.
TEAM 52, CUNHA INTERMEDIATE SCHOOL, HALF MOON BAY: GENDER RESPECT STARTS WITH BOYS AND GIRLS
The
girls at Cunha Intermediate School want boys and girls to start
respecting each other now. They know that if an atmosphere of gender
respect starts at a young age, it will change the way boys and girls
treat each other when they are men and women. The girls presented a
workshop to 5th graders in Half Moon Bay emphasizing the importance of
gender respect. The presentation included skits and sharing personal
stories to get the message across.
TEAM 53 MIGRANT EDUCATION PROGRAM, REDWOOD CITY: SISTERHOOD
The
girls of team 53 were tired of seeing disrespect between girls. They
decided that this came from a lack of self-esteem and a lack of
positive experiences in everyday life. They created collages with
empowering and affirming messages to hang in their schools and public
spaces to encourage girls to be positive toward one another.
TEAM 54, MENLO PARK BOYS & GIRLS CLUB, EAST MENLO PARK: ENCOURAGING STUDENTS AS COMMUNITY LEADERS
“Young
Hope” is what the girls from Team 54 named their project. The girls
want middle school students to be aware of the violence affecting their
community. They also want to encourage those students to change the
trend and give the community hope for the future. They presented a
workshop at Belle Haven Elementary school that featured guest speakers
who spoke about how violence has affected their lives and information
on how violence has affected their community over the years. The girls
from Team 54 hope to foster new community leaders by asking students to
commit to being a positive influence in the community.
GIRL STEERING COMMITTEE, VARIOUS BAY AREA COMMUNITIES
The Girl
Steering Committee is a unique opportunity for girls to hold a position
of leadership in the Girls For A Change organization. This year, the
Steering Committee participated in the implementation of the Girl
Summit, planned the Spring Into Action girl training event and emceed
the Completion Ceremony. Steering Committee members are also voting
members of the GFC Board of Directors, Program Committee and Advisory
Board. The girls have been GFC spokesGIRLS this year at house parties,
fundraisers and other events and also participated in leadership
development workshops on public speaking, college planning and career
planning.
