Photo essay: inspiring girls to believe in themselves

Each Tuesday, the Girl Power lunch group attendees gather in a corner of a large classroom, sharing food and stories of each of their distinct cultures and languages: Arabic, French, Spanish. Sometimes they listen to music and make art projects. Other times, they just talk and laugh. At the start of each lunch, Tatiyana carefully removes a poster that covers their rules on a whiteboard:

1. No boys (do not speak of them!)

2. Girls rule

3. Always believe in yourself and each other

4. Be awesome/nice

5. Have fun

“What do we believe?” she asks the students.

“Girls can do anything boys can do,” says one girl. The other students nod in agreement.

The Girl Power lunches became popular, with each girl inviting another student to join them each week. By the end of the year, every third-grade girl had attended at least once, and new friendships had been formed.

During one of the last lunches of the school year, Tatiyana asked the girls what they want to be when they grow up. One girl said she wanted to make YouTube videos. Another said she would become an art teacher. One said she wanted to become a City Year, just like Tatiyana. “They know that whatever they put their minds to, they can accomplish,” Tatiyana says.

As the school year draws to a close, Tatiyana reflects on her experience working with her girls’ group. “I wish I had started the Girl Power Lunches earlier,” she says. “It’s really hitting me that the year is over, and I’m leaving. I have a cry stuck in my chest.”

Tatiyana has a plan for her future. This fall, she is will return to her home state of Pennsylvania and enter Relay Graduate School of Education, a teacher residency program. She will be working as a first grade teacher at KIPP West Philadelphia Elementary Academy. “I hope the girls keep the conversation we started alive,” Tatiyana says, “that girls can do anything boys can do, and that power comes from believing in yourself and in each other.”