WEST RIDGE — A new campaign aimed at harnessing "Girl Power" from elementary schools across the city hopes to remind girls that anything is possible.
"We have a lot of girls who have a lot of social justice ideas, who just don't know what the starting point is," said Jill Carey, who co-founded Mission Propelle with Annie Warshaw. "Like ... I have an idea, how do I get this off the ground?'"
On Friday, about 200 female students from Rogers Elementary School in West Ridge united for the organization's first "Girl Power Panel" as a kickoff to the new Campaign PropelHER.
True to its mission, the Campaign PropelHER event was completely planned, organized, decorated and facilitated by girls and women.
Mission Propelle typically provides yoga-centered classes and after school programs that seek to empower girls through exercise, reading and mentoring, but Warshaw and Carey said they often hear girls say they have ideas with no way to produce anything from them.
"We put our heads together and asked that question — how can we be the force that is really making the difference between 'I feel good about myself,' and 'I feel good about myself and I'm going to be a leader and help other people feel good about themselves'?" Carey said. "Campaign PropelHER was about giving girls specific ways that they can take the lessons they learn in our afterschool program and apply them outside of the classroom."
Friday's kickoff event for the new campaign in the elementary school's auditorium saw a house packed with students in kindergarten through eighth grade, all buzzing with excitement.
Included in the all-star panel was Chicago Sky forward Tamara Young; U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-9th), a Rogers Elementary alumna; K. Sujata, scientist and president at Chicago Foundation for Women; Patricia Maza-Pittsford, consul general of El Salvador in Chicago; and Tribune reporter Alison Bowen.
The stage at Rogers Elementary School Friday. [DNAinfo/Linze Rice]
The panel was moderated by third-grader Mia Zeri and second-grader Chayse Tillis, who belong to the Mission Propelle after-school program.
The two prepped before the show by practicing their favorite yoga poses, praying, double-checking names, and reciting mantras to themselves in the mirror. "I'm feeling very powerful, but very nervous," Tillis said backstage.
Prepared with questions, the duo asked the women on the panel about ambition, success, dealing with conflict, and how they, as kids, can help others.
"Have you ever thought of opening a store that feeds all the poor people of the world?"
"What needs to happen to make sure girls and boys are equal?"
"What do you think about the glass ceiling, and how did you get through it?"
"What would you tell someone who was told they couldn't achieve their dreams because they were different?"
"And how does that make you feel?"
The women shared their experiences and advice for dealing with life as a girl and woman, how to be a kind and compassionate human being, and the importance of following dreams — regardless of outside opinion.
Schakowsky, a Rogers Park native, easily garnered the largest applause of the afternoon by mentioning she was friends with President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama, and told the girls she got her start in politics at the school as a seventh-grader.
"I wanted to stand up and be a leader," Schakowsky said. "I have lost and I have won, but Rogers School gave me my start. ... You don't have to wait to grow up to do great things."
Instead of clapping, girls showed their support for a statement through waving their fingers. [DNAinfo/Linze Rice]
In speaking about ambition, Maza-Pittsford, who lived in El Salvador during a time of war in the 1970s and '80s, told the girls she was ambitious, but not all success in life is measured by money.
Becoming a better person, learning new languages, and pursuing education were where a person's "true value" lied, she said.
"Nobody's gonna take away what you have in your head," she said. "It's tolerance, curiosity, and acceptance. Ignorance is the worst evil."
The panelists also talked about the challenges they'd faced as women in careers typically dominated by men.
Bowen, who started For Kids Only Newspaper in fifth grade, said she pursued her passion for writing and news despite being discouraged by outsiders.
"No one else has the permission to tell you what you can't do in your own life," Bowen said. "Except your parents."
Young, an award-winning athlete who went to the same high school as Michael Jordan, said she similarly had to work hard, but "dealt with the sacrifice, and here I am, living my dream."
Tamara Young stayed late to give out autographs. [DNAinfo/Linze Rice]
Sujata, who studied engineering in her native country of India and Northwestern University before heading the Chicago Foundation for Women, echoed Bowen's sentiment of autonomy and persistence. She said it was the lack of women engineers that inspired her to become a scientist.
Being the only woman in her class, and school, Sujata said she aspired to "be the best" and prove her gender did not make her less skilled in the sciences.
"I wanted to beat out the boys," she said. "There is no alternative but to be ambitious for me."
She's proud of the work she does now, too.
Sujata left the girls with parting words to remember when it comes to living up to their "girl power" potential:
"I want all girls to be strong, to be able to do what they want to do," she said. "You should be able to be loud, you should be able to raise your voice, and you are allowed to take up space."
K. Sujata, a scientist and president of the Chicago Foundation for Women, said girls are allowed to "take up space" in the world. [DNAinfo/Linze Rice]
Moderator Chayse Tillis, a second-grader, waits backstage before going out to face her audience. She said she felt "powerful" before taking the stage. [DNAinfo/Linze Rice]
Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky, Patricia Maza-Pittsford, Tamara Young, K. Sujata, Alison Bowen, Jill Carey and Annie Warshaw. [DNAinfo/Linze Rice]
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