AAUW-San Francisco
Sister To Sister Program
The San Francisco branch created Sister-to-Sister to enhance and strengthen the voices of pre-teen girls, one girl at a time. An AAUW study How Schools Shortchange Girls states that middle school girls lose their voices. When grouped with boys, girls are more likely to be passive participants in the school setting. Girls raise their hands in class less frequently than boys and teachers call on them less often than boys. Girls are channeled into literature, the arts and the softer sciences, rather than encouraged to pursue advanced math, physical science and technology.
THE PROGRAMThe Sister-to-Sister program consists of interactive and cross-cultural weekly classes in which girls learn to make healthy life choices for their minds and bodies. The program is a partnership with the girls, the facilitators, the girls' parents and school administrators. During the program, each girl learns about her own individual personality, as well as skills for interacting with and interpreting the people and the world around her. Tools used include videos, group discussion, art, teamwork, cooking, writing, and goal setting.
In part, the program focuses on high school choices for seventh and eighth grade girls. By the end of the program, girls often have a new vision of what is possible for themselves.
In addition, by incorporating peer counselors in the class, Sister-to-Sister offers girls a chance to grow into leadership roles that allow them to get to know themselves better, while reaching out to other girls.
Program Leader - Renee Golanty-Koel, PhD is a Professor Emeritus from California State University, Sacramento. She has been a teacher for 40 years. Her expertise is in the field of adolescent development. She works with girls to assist them in working towards utilizing their full potential. She also works with parents to assist them in dealing with adolescent concerns.
SAMPLE TOPICS AND PROJECTS
- Friendship and Peer Relations - examining the importance of friendship and peer pressure
- Identity Issues - Who am I? Who can I become: the hoped-for self
- Standing Tall in Who I am - gives girls a chance to think about likes and dislikes, hopes and dreams, feelings and thoughts.
- The Game of Living - walks through a budgeting exercise to help girls consider their future lives and potential options
- Art - encourages girls to collect and arrange items that help to describe who they are, including magazine pictures, poems, and paint
- Sign Me Up - considers rights and responsibilities involved when obtaining credit cards, a drivers license, bank accounts, and more
- Commercials, Commercials Everywhere - uses television and magazine ads to help girls be more media savvy
- I'll Be a Woman Some Day - examines the definition of "woman" in our society, the girls' families and cultures, and the cultural outlets to which the girls are exposed
- Cooking - the girls cook a variety of cultural foods together.
- Self-Protection - gives girls safety techniques and helps girls to be more aware and be prepared for possibly dangerous situations.
- Sexual Harassment - helps girls define sexual harassment, as well as understand why people harass and how to respond
- How to Make Those Dreams Come True - uses goal setting and journaling as a way to help girls define their dreams and overcome fears and doubts about their futures
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