A look into a club helping girls of color find themselves
January 26, 2015
Club members sit in a circle to eat and chat
Smiling girls sit in a circle of desks munching on snacks, laughing, and talking. The atmosphere is light and cheerful but while G! World is about fun and friends, the club is also focused on tackling serious issues that girls of color face today.
“G! World is about girls making a difference in this world,” RaQuishia Harrington, co-creator and a lead facilitator, said. “Girls accomplishing their goals, girls overcoming obstacles and barriers, girls leading by example, and showing determination in the things that they want to accomplish.”
G! Club does service projects for the community, has guest speakers come to talk about topics the girls are interested in, discusses what is going on in the girls’ lives, and does activities together.
“We come here and we learn something new each week and we do community service projects,” Scott ‘17 said.
Secretary of G! World, Diamice Keita, enjoys the club’s unique aim.
“It is fun and you get to meet new people. It’s not like every other youth group out there,” Keita ‘17 said. “We actually talk about fun stuff and do fun activities but we also talk about serious things.”
G! World focuses a lot on being supportive of each other by sharing what is going on in their lives.
“We do take a lot of the things that the girls bring to us about day to day life, being a teenager. We try to create and come up with a curriculum that is engaging, that’s allowing them to be themselves and to be comfortable while discussing those real life things,” says Harrington lead facilitator. “It can be school, it can be relationships, it can be ‘I have too many commitments and requirements on me, I’m stressed’ or ‘I need help with my homework, where do I go and who do I talk to?’. Things such as that.”
Destini Randel-Estes ‘18, the club’s vice president, agrees that G! Club can be a valuable resource.
“It takes a lot of stress off your back,” Randel-Estes ‘18 said. “They also can help you with your future like school work or tutoring, if you need help they can guide you to certain places.”
Many girls feel the welcoming atmosphere of G! World is a wonderful way to feel part of a close knit group of girls.
“I’m a shy person and in this group I can be myself,” Shakari Scott ‘17 said.
Diamice agrees that this friendly group of girls can be positive for shy people, such as herself.
“It helped me come out of my shell,” Keita said.
Even though the club is thriving in its second year at City high, new members are always welcome.
“I would encourage other students to join to be a part of something different,” lead facilitator,Harrington, said. “[It’s] something where the girls are the leader of the group, where it’s family. We are here to support each other.”
If you are interested, G! Club meets Thursdays after school in room 1114.
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