Thirty minutes after the bell rang ending the day at Mark Twain
Middle School in Venice, a group of young women had some important
decisions to make ““ should they buy new clothes for their
baby or pay for cable? Purchase toiletries or stock up on food? Is
there enough money to rent an apartment?
The money is fake and the young women don’t have their own
children. But the exercise is meant to raise questions and issues
surrounding teen pregnancy, one of many topics addressed at weekly
after-school mentoring sessions sponsored by Women and Youth
Supporting Each Other.
“Girls from underprivileged communities often don’t
have a lot of resources,” said Gelareh Nikpour, one of the
student executive directors of WYSE and a women’s and
international development studies student at UCLA. “We build
strong relationships with the girls and they look to us and ask us
for advice.”
Started at UCLA in 1992, WYSE is now a national organization
with mentoring partnerships between college women and middle
school-aged girls on at least 12 different campuses, including UC
Berkeley, Harvard, USC and Stanford. A lot of schools are supported
by their own fundraising, but much of the over $10,000 budget at
UCLA comes from the university.
Each week, around 25 older university students meet with the
younger women to discuss issues that may soon be relevant in their
lives, such as sex, pregnancy and ways to develop healthy
relationships.
WYSE’s members say it’s a proactive solution to
problems that often receive only reactive treatment.
“It’s definitely more effective to get to people
before the problems start,” said Monica Ortega, another
student executive director for WYSE and a biology student.
In addition to weekly programs after school, each university
student is assigned to mentor at least one younger woman ““ a
relationship that includes phone calls at least once a week just to
chat and a circle journal that mentors exchange with their students
each week.
A year-long program, WYSE sponsors at least one field trip each
quarter for the middle school students. Fall quarter, the students
toured UCLA, and this quarter they are visiting the Hammer Museum
and may go to a health clinic.
“I think it’s important that we’re young and
we can serve as a positive role model,” said Monica Sheftel,
a fourth-year women’s studies and education student.
“Middle school is such an important age.”
Some students at the middle school say they came to WYSE for the
education and are glad they are being taught by older women.
“I thought it was going to be fun and I thought that I was
going to learn a lot,” said Catherine Rosales, a 13-year-old
eighth grader at the school.
“If it was boys (mentoring) they wouldn’t explain.
… They don’t know what it’s like to be a girl,”
Rosales said after a sigh.
For more information about the partnerships and how to get
involved, e-mail wyse@gmail.edu.