A group of young girls in the community were treated to five days of ‘boys-free’ fun last week as they took part in Sackville’s first-ever Girl Power camp.
Focused on building their self-confidence and teaching the girls to be true to themselves, the week-long program hosted by the town was a big hit with the young females who participated.
“I love it, it’s awesome,” said 10-year-old Kathryn Whittemore on Friday, the last day of the program. “It’s all about girls and being yourself and expressing your feelings, being confident.”
Kathryn Crossman, co-coordinator of the camp, said the program provides the girls, ages nine to 13, with a fun and safe atmosphere in which to talk to each other freely, “at a time in their lives when there’s lots of peer pressure” and when they’re facing the angst of hitting puberty.
“The most important part of all this is for the girls to know they’re worth something, to get comfortable within themselves and to make them aware they’re beautiful inside and out,” said Crossman.
Last week’s camp featured a variety of seminars, workshops, dance and exercise lessons, and guest speakers who focused their talks on everything from nutrition to fashion to healthy living – all of which will hopefully empower the girls with the confidence, self-expression and relationship skills they need in order to survive ‘Girlworld.’
“The girls have been wonderful and I really genuinely hope that they've gained something from their experience,” said Crossman.
And judging by the excitement expressed by the young girls, it seems the girls certainly have benefited from the program.
“I have more confidence now,” said MacKenzie Stillman, 11. “It’s a great program because you can talk among your friends and not have boys listening . . . you can talk about your feelings more.”
Nine-year-olds Jade Terrio and Emma Hicks said they both enjoyed the girls-only activities, with plenty of crafts and games to keep them busy throughout the week on top of the other events.
“It’s pretty fun because you can do stuff without boys around,” said Jade, noting she particularly liked the activity in which the girls wrote down words to describe each other, such as adorable, sporty, pretty, nice, smart, etc.
Emma said the guest speakers, in particular, were helpful in giving advice “to not give up on your dreams,” which was in line with the theme of the week – DREAM (Dare to be you, Right relationships, Enjoy your life, Always thinking, and Making you shine).
Sarah Kay, who also helped coordinate and teach the program, said the Girl Power camp is a great way for girls to become more aware of themselves as individuals.
“It allows them to truly be themselves and proud to be a girl,” she said. “And we really tried to emphasize to them that the things that make you unique are the things that make you who you are.”
Because of its success, the Girl Power program, which is hosted by the town’s community programs department and derives much of its material from the Dove Real Beauty campaign for girls, is expected to continue this fall during either evening or weekend sessions.
