Dec 9 by Ivonne Gonzalez

 

Finally the day that the Garfield High School Girl Up Club had been planning for had arrived!

The members of the GHS Girl Up club came to school at 6:30 a.m. to set up for the assembly. Colorful posters were put on display, including one that read, “You see a girl, we see a future.”

Before our audience came in, our club members were running from place to place, making sure everything was ready to go. Ring, ring, ring, the school bell rang. It was show time.

About a hundred students walked in to the big gym, wide-eyed with curiosity as they took their seats on the bleachers.

The Garfield High School cheerleading squad performed a dance routine to Beyoncé’s “Run the World (Girls).” Following the performance, Rocio Ortega, founder of our GHS Girl Up club, welcomed the audience to our Unite for Girls event and presented a video about Girl Up.

As I looked into the crowd, I noticed many of them were taken aback by the fact that girls in developing countries don’t lead the lives we lead here in the United States. But that was just the beginning; as the assembly progressed, they would learn that there are several other issues that affect adolescent girls in other parts of the world.

We had the honor of having Julie Willig and Dory Gannes, two Girl Up representatives from Washington, D.C., come speak at our assembly.

They spoke about how their experience with Girl Up has been and how excited they were to see an event like ours take place. After Julie’s and Dory’s speech, the audience was split into four groups and designated to one of the four stations we had set up-Guatemala, Ethiopia, Malawi, and the United States.

At each of these stations, girls learned about what it’s like to live in each of these countries and the hardships that young women there face. At our Ethiopia station, students carried a bucket of water over their heads to experience what many girls in African countries are required to do for up to six hours a day.

Rosa Barrientos, GHS Girl Up Club vice president, spoke about HIV and child marriage at the Ethiopia station. At the Guatemala station, Rocio Ortega informed students about illiteracy. Many students, particularly young girls, showed sympathy in their eyes as they learned about difficult circumstances that young women around the world must endure every day.

At the United States station, students got the chance to write letters to girls in other countries.

Many of these letters were touching.

“I’m an American girl, but I really admire you for all you do,” wrote one student, Yvonne Mondragon. It was touching and inspiring to see that the students at the assembly were beginning to believe in Girl Up’s cause.

When our members spoke to the students at each of the stations, they kept reminding them, “You are very lucky to have the opportunity to get an education and choose who you marry. Not every teenage girl in the world has this same opportunity.”

To end the ceremony, I performed an original song called “If Only I Had the Chance.”

When I wrote the song, I put myself in the shoes of a girl who’s alone in the world – her family has kicked her out and she does not have access to education.

Then, this girl is given hope when she is able to be part of one of the many programs Girl Up funds in other countries, such as Abriendo Oportunidades in Guatemala.

“I’m starting to see all the things I could be if only I had the chance,” I sang, letting another girl speak through my music.

This girl is not just the narrator of my song. She’s out there.

And along with my GHS Girl Up Club members, I want to continue raising awareness and fundraising so that she can have the chance to chase her dreams.

You can help make a difference! Start a Girl Up Club today.