WISE mentoring program helps low-income immigrant and refugee high school girls succeed

April Htoo is a quietly confident young woman from Burma with dreams of a career in science. She started participating in the Girls Getting Ahead in Leadership (GGAL) program as a high school sophomore. Coming to the United States from a refugee camp in Thailand, Htoo, now a senior, recalled the challenges of beginning school in a new place.
 
The U.S. born students spoke really good, really fast. I’m shy, so it was harder for me to speak. [At GGAL], I got to practice. Now I’m confident I can speak. I built the skills that I could bring to my school. GGAL helped me a lot.
 
GGAL is a program of Women’s Initiative for Self-Empowerment (WISE) that provides opportunities for 10th-12th grade immigrant and refugee girls to improve their academics, prepare for college and build strong leadership skills. The girls are mentored by volunteers who are college-aged or professional women.
 
“GGAL  executes  that  by  building  on English  literacy   skills,”  said   Program Coordinator   Sarah   Gerdes.   “The   students have to take the Minnesota Comprehensive    Assessments    (MCAs) yearly,  and  reading,  writing  and  math
are requirements to graduate from high school. The program helps build essential
skills to do this.”
 
The  girls  attend  weekly  workshops and focus on their futures with support
through  the  college application  process and  campus  field trips.  They  build  life
experience through service learning projects  and  make  connections  with  other
youth organizations. They gain information  on  facilitating  change  through  the
civic component of the program.
 
Self-esteem  and  confidence  building are the major successes that Gerdes
recognizes. “At the end-of-the-year GGAL celebrations, the girls talk about what they’ve accomplished; those skills translate into other parts of their lives,” she said.
GGAL serves a multicultural group of girls from diverse backgrounds, including girls from the Hmong, Karen, Oromo and  Somali  communities. But,  as  Htoo described,   “At   GGAL,   we’re   all   the same.” There is also focus on shared experience. GGAL provides a female-centered environment where  participants  can  lettheir guard down and feel safe interacting—understanding how the same issues can affect girls from different countries. Recognizing  the  direct  impact  between well-being and academic success, a new component that GGAL plans to build into
its offering, is a wellness support group.
 
The success of GGAL is also evident in  the  numbers. “During  the  2010-2011program year, 10 of the 11 seniors participating   went   on   to   college,”   saidPrisca Okeahialam-Swaray, WISE Youth Program   Coordinator.   Since   the   program’s inception in 2003, GGAL has seen over 100 young women move on to
college, and now offers a group for GGAL alums.
 
Angela  Wendler  was  a  junior  at  the University of Minnesota when she found out about the opportunity to serve as a mentor in the GGAL program. Raised in a family where volunteerism and giving back  to  the  community were  expected, Wendler compared the GGAL program to the support system her own parents provided. “The girls slowly become more independent and confident so that they can go out into the world and be successful—that’s a huge accomplishment, and the program does its job. I was happy to be part of that. You’re there for the girls.
And you’re part of something bigger than yourself.”
 
BeAChangemaker:                
Mentors are needed to help with career goal development, as well as college application, scholarship application and financial aid application preparation.
FFI: Prisca Okeahialam-Swaray, prisca@womenofwise.org or Sarah Priyanka Gerdes, sarah@womenofwise.org.
www.womenofwise.org/volunteer/mentorship-program