The school year is only just getting started, but we here at Girls Write Now have already hit the ground running! Across two mentoring programs, on three different days, and in two different locations, we’ve kicked off the 2013-14 year with a bang. Catch the latest from our mentors and mentees on the ground!
Our flagship Mentoring Program started the year off early, launching with Mentor Training to help new mentors learn the ropes of the program and welcome returning mentors back into the fold. Veteran mentor Amy reported on the savvy advice and curious questions she heard from her fellow mentors.
The next event in the Mentoring Program was our Orientation, where over the course of one sunny Saturday, 65 mentors and 65 mentees came to Girls Write Now to start the year off right. Second-year pair Kirstie and Cherise both reflected on their return to the program after a summer off, Kirstie choosing poetry as her vessel and Cherise choosing prose to describe her arrival on the 18th floor.
Others were newly-minted mentees and mentors — Marquisele told us what she overheard during her first Girls Write Now workshop, while Misbah shares the nerves, excitement, and fabulousness of a new mentee’s first Orientation.
Meanwhile, the Digital Media Mentoring Program started its inaugural year with Mentor Training, bringing all twenty-five new mentors up to speed with what it means to mentor a teenage girl in the digital age — and causing one volunteer to wonder if the tech-unsavvy can be a part of a new kind of writing (her answer will make you smile!).
Next came Orientation, where our digital-savvy mentors and mentees got to know each other, the program, and what to expect in the months to come. Mentor Aparna shares her recollections of the “awesome, boom!” experience and tells us what superpower she’d pick.
So far we’ve had four workshops and nearly 200 excited, passionate, and writerly women and girls have joined or re-joined the ranks of Girls Write Now. We can’t wait to see what breakthroughs will come next!