PLP Girls Gen 2022 - 2023:
2021-22:
Team Achievements:
What was surprising this year was not how much we were able to accomplish (after all, we always try our best), but actually - how large our team grew! I really think all the swag gifts really helped push our campus to want to get active and get involved. Maybe it started with a cool t-shirt, or a tote bag, or a free book, but the new girls came, liked what they saw, stayed, and worked! For that we are grateful. I think next year I'd like to get the team started earlier. I always wait for our application to be approved and for funding before we start "official" team activities, but perhaps I shouldn't. Next year, maybe we just get started right away and if we don't get approved or receive funding at least we still are putting forth the effort to make the world a better place. |
TEAM REFLECTION:
We are so proud of our team's accomplishments this year and every year! It may not seem like a lot to someone else, but we know how hard we work and how many hours it takes to plan, organize and facilitate an event - let alone several events! One of our biggest accomplishments was working with the blood drive because that directly impacts people's lives. We encouraged our community to participate and donate pints of blood in order to restock our precious blood supply here in the Antelope Valley so our local hospitals have access to resources to help save patients in dire need of transfusions. We also held many campaigns to bring awareness to various causes and issues dealing with health and wellness: stopping distracted driving; taking mental health matters seriously; caring for our environment; supporting women in need; donating to multiple philanthropies; and working with elementary students to spread the love of reading.
For the MS Walk, we walked with hundreds of other walkers - and our donation to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society benefitted the hundreds of thousands of Americans currently living with MS. Our donations to the Women's Sports Foundation, The OneLegacy organ and tissue donation organization, and other charities assisted thousands of people as well.
At Palmdale Learning Plaza (a K-8 school), we made a point of visiting kindergarten through eighth-grade classrooms to spread our messages of health and wellness ("Mental Health Matters" campaign), sharing the planet (Earth Day activities), being kind ("WE are Love" campaign) the importance of recycling (parks and desert clean-up), and supporting our unhoused communities (“WE Scare Hunger” canned food drive, winter coat drive, and women's hygiene kits).
And all the while we still had fun growing our team, getting to know each other, and planning for the future!
We are so proud of our team's accomplishments this year and every year! It may not seem like a lot to someone else, but we know how hard we work and how many hours it takes to plan, organize and facilitate an event - let alone several events! One of our biggest accomplishments was working with the blood drive because that directly impacts people's lives. We encouraged our community to participate and donate pints of blood in order to restock our precious blood supply here in the Antelope Valley so our local hospitals have access to resources to help save patients in dire need of transfusions. We also held many campaigns to bring awareness to various causes and issues dealing with health and wellness: stopping distracted driving; taking mental health matters seriously; caring for our environment; supporting women in need; donating to multiple philanthropies; and working with elementary students to spread the love of reading.
For the MS Walk, we walked with hundreds of other walkers - and our donation to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society benefitted the hundreds of thousands of Americans currently living with MS. Our donations to the Women's Sports Foundation, The OneLegacy organ and tissue donation organization, and other charities assisted thousands of people as well.
At Palmdale Learning Plaza (a K-8 school), we made a point of visiting kindergarten through eighth-grade classrooms to spread our messages of health and wellness ("Mental Health Matters" campaign), sharing the planet (Earth Day activities), being kind ("WE are Love" campaign) the importance of recycling (parks and desert clean-up), and supporting our unhoused communities (“WE Scare Hunger” canned food drive, winter coat drive, and women's hygiene kits).
And all the while we still had fun growing our team, getting to know each other, and planning for the future!
2020-2021
1. Impact Report
plp_girls_gen_2021_impact_report_template.pdf | |
File Size: | 175 kb |
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2. Project Planners - Proposed & Final
3. TOP ACHIEVEMENTS:
Although this has definitely been a difficult year for clubs and extracurricular activities due to COVID-19, we still feel that we have learned a lot and made some great progress this year. We are very proud of all of the activities that we were able to participate in, and everything we were able to accomplish, despite the circumstances.
We started off the year strong (before we were even selected as an official Girls Build team for the 2020-2021 school year), by helping LA Promise Fund and Girls Build get out the vote for the November 2020 presidential election. We were able to publicize and attend virtual events via zoom and Facebook, encourage our families to learn more about the county ballot measures and presidential candidates, how to register to vote, when/where/how to vote for first time voters, helped spread awareness with our "Vote Rocks" campaign, and even interviewed then-Secretary of State of California, Mr. Alex Padilla!
Although this has definitely been a difficult year for clubs and extracurricular activities due to COVID-19, we still feel that we have learned a lot and made some great progress this year. We are very proud of all of the activities that we were able to participate in, and everything we were able to accomplish, despite the circumstances.
We started off the year strong (before we were even selected as an official Girls Build team for the 2020-2021 school year), by helping LA Promise Fund and Girls Build get out the vote for the November 2020 presidential election. We were able to publicize and attend virtual events via zoom and Facebook, encourage our families to learn more about the county ballot measures and presidential candidates, how to register to vote, when/where/how to vote for first time voters, helped spread awareness with our "Vote Rocks" campaign, and even interviewed then-Secretary of State of California, Mr. Alex Padilla!
Some of our other achievements included the approach we decided to take this year with our monthly "Challenge Bags." Since we all felt so distant and far away from each other, we figured that one way to connect and bring us together as a team would be to get creative and hands-on to create products. For example, we made masks to promote health and wellness during the pandemic, we created rafiki bracelets to spread joy and foster friendships, we created stress balls to help reduce stress and bring awareness to mindfulness, we participated in the Anti-Racist Book club and had great disucssions about the books we read. And finally, we are holding our own zoom webinar on how to create your own DIY tabletop zen garden on May 18, 2021.
*Short Term Goals - to be creative, participate in small monthly challenges, have fun, and spread awareness via our digital and social media campaigns.
*Long Term Goals - to increase our health, wellness, and happiness while reducing stress due to the pandemic.
*Short Term Goals - to be creative, participate in small monthly challenges, have fun, and spread awareness via our digital and social media campaigns.
*Long Term Goals - to increase our health, wellness, and happiness while reducing stress due to the pandemic.
4. Team Event - "DIY Tabletop Zen Garden" Zoom Session
girlsgenflyer_2021.pdf | |
File Size: | 489 kb |
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5. DATA ANALYSIS:
"Community Health & Wellness" Pre-Survey Data: |
This year we are trying a different approach, and having members of our community inform our decision-making process (financial and otherwise) by directly letting us know what they are most concerned about and how we can best effect change!
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Are YOU interested in taking our "Community Health & Wellness Pre-Survey"? If so, please click the link below:
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What has the data shown so far?
Interesting findings! Stay tuned...
2019 -2020
- Project Needs & Solutions ~
Problem to be Addressed - Since our health & wellness and fitness goals are similar to last year's, we decided to address those same societal problems (lack of physical activity, unhealthy eating and drinking habits, childhood obesity) - but also expand our reach further than ever before! This year, our team was very excited to reach out to international partnerships and I'd say we were pretty successful!
Continuing with our health and wellness goals, we were also able to provide emergency relief services to people in need in The Philippines during and after Typhoon Kammuri; to provide feminine hygiene products and general toiletries to teenage girls in The Dominican Republic; support 8th grade student Alvaro Pineda with his "Bags of Hope" international project; and donate to more charities than ever before!
Unfortunately, since we were not able to complete our initial project as planned, we decided to spend more time and effort brainstorming, researching and donating to charities of our choosing - but of course, the non-profit organizations had to align with our core focus this year.
We also chose to donate $100 back to the LA PROMISE FUND to support their COVID-19 relief efforts during these uncertain times. We posted and received a $25 donation on Facebook from one of our loyal followers, then added an additional $75 and donated to the NATIONAL MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS SOCIETY to support our emphasis on getting physically fit. Along those same lines, we donated $25 to Billie Jean King's WOMEN'S SPORTS FOUNDATION (WSF) to support efforts to create "safe, equal playing fields for school-aged and elite athletes around the world and promote female leadership in all areas of sports." We also decided to donate $50 to CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL LOS ANGELES (CHLA) and $50 to the SHRINER'S HOSPITAL FOR CHILDREN to help children maintain a healthy lifestyle and get the wellness they need to live long, happy lives.
And finally, we also sought out to find a sister group. We found one internationally in "Chicas Poderosas," but we also wanted to collaborate locally. Through our mutual Instagram accounts we corresponded with the "Women of Wisdom" Girls Build group at Foshay Learning Center in Los Angeles. Our coordinator was able to meet with their coordinator and with the group of girls to discuss project ideas and leadership opportunities for the two groups. Girls from both their team and ours have been in communication via social media, and have even participated in the #stayathome #selfcare challenge together!
And finally, we also sought out to find a sister group. We found one internationally in "Chicas Poderosas," but we also wanted to collaborate locally. Through our mutual Instagram accounts we corresponded with the "Women of Wisdom" Girls Build group at Foshay Learning Center in Los Angeles. Our coordinator was able to meet with their coordinator and with the group of girls to discuss project ideas and leadership opportunities for the two groups. Girls from both their team and ours have been in communication via social media, and have even participated in the #stayathome #selfcare challenge together!
- The Process & Civic Engagement ~
Like the year prior, we recruited new members (incoming 6th and 7th graders) to add to our returning 8th graders and assembled a team. We discussed what our roles would be and if we wanted to stick with the focus of health and wellness or return to our roots with STEM (2017-2018). Since we felt we were largely successful last year, and because we wished to accomplish even more this time around - we decided to stay with our topic from 2019-2020, but expand it further. In other words, not just serve on PLP's campus, but in the Antelope Valley community as well, and hopefully internationally, too!
On campus, we decided to plan a "PLP Fitness Fair" to take place in April. Unfortunately, this plan was derailed when the Palmdale School District put out the Shelter-In-Place order on Friday, March 13, 2020.
Luckily, prior to that we had been busy working on other "side projects" - including:
1. PLP's Annual Color Run
2. California Coastal Clean-Up
3. Volunteering at the South Antelope Valley Emergence Service Food Bank
4. Weekly Meetings - Creating Hygiene Kits
5. Weekly Meetings - Making Bath Bombs
6. Weekly Meetings - Making Stress Balls
7. Corresponding with "Chicas Poderosas" and "Women of Wisdom"
8. Philanthropy (5 different non-profit organizations)
9. Supporting 8th grade students with their PLP community projects
10. Canned food drive to benefit survivors of Typhoon Kammuri
11. Virtual MS Walk
12. #Stayathome challenge with Palmdale Learning Plaza and Foshay Learning Center
13. Baking desserts for Grace Resources Food Bank
14. HGTV Project Participation - "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition"
15. Marie Kerr Basketball Court Refurbishment
16. Girls Build "Hello Future" field trip to the Microsoft Theater
17. Girls Gen in Washington DC, Summer 2019
18. Social media campaigns: #EarthDayChallenge
19. Crafting homemade Mother's Day cards to be delivered to local nursing homes in the Antelope Valley
20. Kaiser Permanente's Web Series ("Caring for the Education Community During COVID-19")
21. National Denim Day social media campaign, April 29, 2020
22. Mental Health Awareness Campaign in the month of May
23. Fitness and Goal-Setting Assembly with Olympian Rachel Garcia
- Project Planners ~
As is often the case, our project ideas changed from our initial to our final project planner.
Our initial project plan (pre-COVID) was a PLP Fitness Fair. Our "pivot" project plan (post-COVID) was our Earth Day social media campaign. Please find details below:
Our initial project plan (pre-COVID) was a PLP Fitness Fair. Our "pivot" project plan (post-COVID) was our Earth Day social media campaign. Please find details below:
plp_girlsgen_earth_day_challenge.pdf | |
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2020_gbla_project_planner__1_.pdf | |
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School flyer for our original project idea:
- Outcomes ~
Despite the COVID-19 "Stay at Home" order, we still feel that we were able to accomplish many positive outcomes!
Quotes from Girls Gen:
1. "We helped people, not only locally and nationally, but GLOBALLY!" - Katie
2. "We accomplished working together as a team." This is no easy feat - there are 25 of us from all different grade levels (6th, 7th and 8th). Lots of strong personalities and different opinions! - Odeth & Ms. Lighston
3. "We gave more money to charities than ever before!" - Tatiana
4. "We put smiles on people's faces." - Madeline
5. "We supported other women and girls around the world." - Hannah O.
6. "We inspired other girls to get involved and take action in various community service projects." - Vanessa
- Evidence ~
Please click below to view our collection of evidence toward meeting our team goals. Included are our team slideshow, impact report, photographs, receipts, email requests, flyers, thank you letters and videos, etc.
- Reflections ~
Time to Zoom!
Quotes from Girls Gen:
"I learned to cooperate with others." - Megan
"I learned to manage my time better." - Gurjashan
"I improved my public speaking skills!" - Ruby
"I now know that helping others makes me feel good!" - Angeline
"I learned to put our IB Learner Profile attitudes and attributes to work in real-life." - Alexa
"We learned about female empowerment and how women can be successful in business based on the "Hello Future" field trip." - Hannah
"I learned how to be more thoughtful and caring for others - even with those I don't even personally know." - Nischelle
"Our team thrived by collaborating with other powerful girl groups." - Blythe
"I learned to cooperate with others." - Megan
"I learned to manage my time better." - Gurjashan
"I improved my public speaking skills!" - Ruby
"I now know that helping others makes me feel good!" - Angeline
"I learned to put our IB Learner Profile attitudes and attributes to work in real-life." - Alexa
"We learned about female empowerment and how women can be successful in business based on the "Hello Future" field trip." - Hannah
"I learned how to be more thoughtful and caring for others - even with those I don't even personally know." - Nischelle
"Our team thrived by collaborating with other powerful girl groups." - Blythe
- Team Budget & Donation Receipts ~
2020_girls_gen_final_budget.pdf | |
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shriners_donation-receipt.pdf | |
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chla_donation_receipt.pdf | |
File Size: | 1092 kb |
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nmss_donation_receipt_2020.pdf | |
File Size: | 35 kb |
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wsf_donation_receipt.pdf | |
File Size: | 44 kb |
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la_promise_fund_receipt.jpg | |
File Size: | 179 kb |
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lapf_voicemail.png | |
File Size: | 247 kb |
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2020_girls_gen_budget_proposal.pdf | |
File Size: | 61 kb |
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