Empowering Girls to Write

I always get excited when I see articles about tutoring and mentoring in my daily perusal of the news websites. That's why I was so happy when I saw this article in the New York Times about women writers who mentor teenage girls in New York to become writers themselves. What's so great about this program is that encourages young girls to look to writing as an outlet to express themselves and to tell their stories.
The teenage years are extremely precarious, especially so for minority girls living in the inner city. Here at Cabrini Connections, we have a writing club that has a similar goal of teaching the kids to use writing, especially creative writing and poetry to express themselves. While the writing club was intended for both boys and girls, it has turned into an all-girls club for one reason or another. While I wish that the boys would want to be a part of writing club, I also think it's wonderful that there's a group of girls who act as a support network to each other where they share their deepest thoughts and feelings about their lives through different forms of writing. Our two writing club teachers, Jen King and Shannyn Nellett have done a fantastic job in bringing out the writers within these girls and setting them free to express and perform. I remember being so impressed when I saw a piece they wrote and performed at the year-end dinner last year about their trip to see the musical, The Color Purple. I wish I could include a photo of these beautiful girls at work in the writing club, but unfortunately Blogspot won't let me. For another time.
Funnily enough, my boss Dan Bassill, also found the NY Times article and wrote about it in a response to a blog post by Connie Weber on a ning called Fireside Learning. You can read about what they have to say about mentoring girls to become writers here.