Local Girls Get Global Ed

Ninety girls from elementary schools around Boston flocked to Sever Hall on Saturday to get a taste of what’s beyond the border—and what’s inside the Yard.

The girls arrived on the Harvard campus for Global Girls Day, hosted by Strong Women, Strong Girls (SWSG), the all-female campus mentoring organization promoting self-esteem and leadership skills among girls in grades three to five.

Each semester, SWSG—founded by Lindsay N. Hyde ’04—invites participating girls to Harvard for a day of workshops and a chance to mingle with undergraduate women.

According to Events Coordinator Caitlin M. Campbell ’09, Saturday’s international theme was inspired by Harvard’s recent initiatives—from encouraging study abroad to the far-reaching curricular review—to give students a global perspective.

Over 20 members of campus groups, from Ballet Folklorico to Harvard Model United Nations, put on four workshops for the girls. While a panel of three international students answered questions and helped the girls decorate mock passports in one classroom, another shook as students in Gumboots and Ballet Folklorico taught step dances from South African mines and Mexico.

“It puts a smile on my face,” Marisol Pineda Conde ’08 of Ballet Folklorico said as the SWSG girls twirled in colorful skirts.

In a workshop led by Model United Nations students, the girls represented different countries as they grappled with how to respond to a tsunami hitting India.

The delegates from Botswana, for instance, analyzed their country’s resources and volunteered to send steel and produce to the stricken area.

“I was really impressed with the girls,” said Elina Tetelbaum ’07, who is a member of the Model United Nations and moderated Saturday’s mock assembly.

“Their ideas were far more creative than high school Model United Nations students’.”

Meanwhile, in Sever 305, the girls got a very brief introduction to Mandarin—learning to count up to 10 and making posters that said “Strong Women, Strong Girls” in Mandarin.

Previous incarnations of SWSG’s semesterly on-campus event included Career Day and Health and Sports Day. Saturday’s theme grew out of a desire to take advantage of Harvard’s cultural diversity, organizers said.

“For me, it started when I was thinking about the resources we have here that we can take advantage of,” said Campbell, who organized Saturday’s event.