Girls' LEAP Graduates Excel Pursuing Post-Secondary Education
This March, we had the chance to check in with two of our 2021 Girls' LEAP graduates, Shali Holliday and Ciarra Frederick, to learn about what they have been up to after starting their post-secondary education. Read select excerpts from our interviews below!
Shali Holliday
Shali Holliday is a student at Howard University studying Political Science with a double minor in Criminology and African American Studies. She is part of the ROTC program and hopes to become a JAG lawyer at the Air Force Academy. She graduated from Boston Public Schools.
What has the transition been like for you after graduating high school?
College surprised me and was harder at first than I expected. It was a big shift being away from home for the first time, in a new environment. It forced me to grow... forced me to be more independent. I am definitely getting more comfortable doing things and making decisions without my parents. I booked my own plane tickets! Saniya [a fellow teen mentor] reminded me to ask for help if I needed it, like if I didn’t know where I was going in the airport. I did, and it worked!
How did Girls' LEAP help prepare you for this new chapter of your life?
Girls’ LEAP definitely shaped my assertiveness and my authority and prepared me for this experience and ROTC. In ROTC, assertiveness and authority are just expected. The whole time I was with Girls’ LEAP, from age 15-18, prepared me for this. From that first Girls' LEAP training — it was the first time that I had been in an environment that expected leadership. Then to just be able to keep doing it — getting comfortable speaking to others, leading groups, expressing what I needed — it’s exactly what is expected of me here. Excellence is expected at HBCUs. ROTC demands excellence. There are opportunities here but you have to take them. Girls' LEAP prepared me to be assertive and to take them.
Knowing what you know now, would you make the same choices that led you to where you are today?
I would. If I had stayed and went to a school near home, I would be comfortable and complacent. This experience has forced me to grow and change. I have had to become more flexible, I would not have had the amount of stress and such high standards, but I’ll be ready for the work world, for anything.
Ciarra Frederick
Ciarra Frederick is a student at the Bridgewater State Aviation School. She is six lessons away from obtaining her private pilot license and hopes to fly for a commercial airline. Ciarra graduated from Boston Public Schools.
What has the process been like for you, as you work to obtain your pilot license?
It’s lots of work with all the licenses that are required, but I am so happy! Once I get my private pilot license... then I will start working on my instrument rating. I’m learning as much as I can about commercial planes and working for Cape Air, trying to work up to becoming a ramp coordinator.
What do you love most about flying?
I love it so much. It’s insane how humans can have the capability of being in the air, gliding over the sunset. I love every single minute that I’m in a plane. I was on a different career path through my whole high school career until my uncle, who flies for United, took me up in a plane. It was so freeing to be in the sky, and until then, I had no idea how accessible this career is.
What kind of impact did Girls' LEAP have on your life?
I couldn’t be the person I am today without Girls’ LEAP... [it] really changed my life. It definitely gave me a confidence boost, made me more courageous and allowed me to think big and believe in myself. I felt so comfortable at LEAP.
What are your hopes for the future?
I want to come back to LEAP and talk with the Teen Mentors; I want other teens to know this career is a possibility. And once I get my license, I’d like to take up others and open their minds to flying as a career.
Coming Soon: Advanced Curriculum Sneak Peak
Over the years, community partners, staff, teens, and program participants have asked us the same question: Does LEAP provide advanced programming for graduates of the program?
We are happy to announce that the Girls' LEAP Advanced Curriculum is currently in the works. The theme of the new curriculum is "The 3 R's: Reflection, Resistance, Resilience". Similar to our first track, our advanced program will have both physical and social-emotional skill components. Topics covered will include the power of consent, navigating peer pressure, and understanding the brain-body connection. The physical curriculum will build upon the skills we teach today, with increased intensity.
In the next couple of months, we will be piloting sessions with our full teaching team including lead teachers, teaching assistants, and teen mentors. The first training session is happening Thursday, March 31st!
This work would not be possible without the help from our funders Womenade and the Tuukka Rask Fund for Kids. We are so grateful for their support on this project.
LEAP into Mentoring!
“If kids don’t have safety, they won’t have literacy.”
Chief Neva Coakley, Chief of Safety Services and Interim Chief of Student Support, Boston Public Schools.
Students must feel safe and be safe in school if they are to take full advantage of their education. The pandemic has cost young people dearly, dramatically slowing their development and making the return to school a challenging, fraught process. Teachers and school social workers are reporting more disruptions in schools, as students act out the trauma they have absorbed over the past two years.
Chief Coakley brought Girls' LEAP together with Big Sister Boston to design innovative ways we can support students in building the skills to keep themselves safe and to create peer support networks. High school-aged Big Sisters will be paired with middle-school Little Sisters. Together they will learn how to reduce the risk they will be involved in a violent situation and how to respond and escape, if needed, with minimal harm. Together, they will learn to de-escalate conflict, set boundaries, build healthy relationships, and take care of their mental health. In guided discussion and activities, they will practice building their networks and foster positive, supportive relationships. We're excited to partner with Big Sister Boston and to work with Chief Coakley to bring this program to BPS.
Girls' LEAP will partner with Big Sister Boston and the Boston Public School's Safety Office to pilot an innovative program over April vacation. For details and to enroll:
A special thank you to Kat Ramos for producing this newsletter. Kat is an amazing person - while working toward a degree in Biochemistry at Northeastern University (May 2022), they have acted as an intern, a Teaching Assistant and now a Lead Teacher at Girls’ LEAP. An incredible role model for our young participants, Kat also works in the Global Community Investment office at John Hancock.
Every day, we are privileged to learn with and from the youth at Girls' LEAP. They teach us, challenge us, and amaze us. We thank them, and we thank you. It is your support and engagement that makes Girls' LEAP possible.
-Shalaya, Lynn & Cynthia