November/December School Issues

Publisher: Darla Harmon

Editor/Designer:

Kelci Gould Darla Harmon Darrell Morton Jr.

Board Members: Darrell Morton Jr. Nancy Heimann Kelci Gould Lucy McGowan Tish Mallicoat

Disclaimer: The views expressed in articles are those of the respective authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the BoldlyU Team and/or our partners. The acceptance of advertising does not indicate endorsement.

Notice of Nondiscrimination: BoldlyU does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, national orgin, ancestry, sex, age, disablitiy, sexual orientation or status as a disabled veteran.

Girls STEM Institute (GSI) is a transformative space that empowers girls of color, historically marginalized in STEM fields, to live their best lives. GSI encourages girls to embrace their innate brilliance through STEM exploration. GSI is unique in that it focuses on the whole person by integrating STEM learning with overall wellness and well-being. We focus on developing girls’ minds, bodies, and spirits.

GSI is a year-round Saturday program with a four-week summer intensive. GSI provides girls of color an opportunity to develop an understanding of mathematics and other STEM concepts in a meaningful and culturally grounded context. Through GSI, our scholars are provided access to powerful STEM learning experiences that challenge them to think deeply and critically. As STEM learners, they are empowered to use STEM as a tool for personal and social change.

Our work centers around four pillars.

1. Career Exposure and Exploration – introduction to various STEM careers and diverse professionals.

2. Girl Empowerment – promoting self-love, leadership development, and confidence building as leaders and learners of STEM.

3. Critical Consciousness – understanding the importance of diversity.

4. Holistic Enrichment – cultivating healthy bodies, minds, and spirits and building authentic family and community partnerships.

During the summer of 2022, we offered the Girls STEM Summer Institute in Indianapolis and Muncie, IN. I want to thank all the staff members, caregivers/parents, scholars, and university and community partners for making our 2022 summer institutes a great success.

OUR MISSION:

BoldlyU Magazine is specifically designed for tweens, to encourage them to be brave, to be bold and to be themselves by providing a place for them to share their stories, struggles and passions. It is a positive resource to empower them to build confidence within themselves while also helping others!

Most of this content is written by tweens for tweens!

Dr. Morton

COLOR ME!

S T E M

Stem Insititute Team

-Past You

I don't think I'm going to make it! I'm not good enough for anybody, my mom says I need to exercise more because I'm not as skinny as my sister. I already play three sports and go to body conditioning three days a week on top of the sports. My grades are bad because I'm so tired all the time and I just want to sleep instead of listen to the most boring teachers ever. Plus, I'm not as smart as my brother was and the compare me all the time to him. The counselor calls me into his office and says I need better self esteem. Where am I going to find that with everyone bringing me down. Would anyone really miss me?

-Past You

DEAR FUTURE ME DEAR PAST ME

I must say, I am so proud of you for how far have come. Good job. You took each setback as a lesson and didn't let them or yourself steer you off the direction that you saw yourself going. Sure, there have been times where I know you haven't felt good enough or qualified enough. Thank goodness you stopped letting people dectate your life. It was seriously starting to piss me off. You realized you don't need a man to make you feel beautiful or to wear a size 2 to feel good about yourself. You have taken defeat and turned it into motivation. Motivation to do better and to be better. And because of that, you have boosted yourself and found out certain qualities in your life that you didn't know that you had.

-Future You

Submit your questions and concerns to to get helpful advice from our experienced columnists. Your questions will be kept anonymous.

darla@boldlyu.com

OnlineStrugglesSchooling

OVERCOMER

Counselor’s Corner

In mid-October 2020, Tommy (now age 13) started a trend that would change history... The birth of the SPEED athletic clothing line was created to support under privileged youth. This clothing line is for every person; adult or youth. Purchases support youth who have an interest in sports but have no way to support their dreams financially... Every dollar made with SPEED clothing line will aid the cause and donates to any youth across the state and eventually the country. SPEED clothing line sponsors individual athletes and/or entire teams.

SPEED Forward with the SPEED clothing line.

Jazalee

GSI Summer Institute: Ball State University Muncie

Dr. Rona Robinson-Hill is an Associate Professor at Ball State University in the Department of Biology as a science educator. She served as the Muncie Director of the Girls STEM Institute-Training Future Scientist Program this summer. This is a new research adventure for her, but she is so excited to partner with Dr. Crystal Morton and Muncie Community School (MCS) secondary teachers to be a bridge to provide authentic STEM enrichment opportunities for diverse underserved females in grades 6-12 in Delaware County. This summer she trained and mentored two MCS secondary teachers, Mrs. Joyce King and Ms. Monica Randler from Southside Middle School the philosophy of teaching espoused by the Executive director and director of the GSITFS program. Dr. Hill provided the teachers with six hours of professional development, three structured lesson plans to implement with the GSI-TFS Scholars, and over six enrichment experiences provided by community partners from Ball State University, East Central Indiana Area Health Education Center (ECI-AHEC), and Delaware County. The community partners that volunteered and donated their services and resources to the Scholars were: Mrs. Teresa Long, Dr. John McKillip, Dr. Tya Arthur, Mrs. Darla Harmon, Mrs. Erica Oliver, Mrs. Demetria Jackson, Dr. Justin Tobyas, Ms. Blair Mattern, Mrs. Karrie Osborne, and Dr. Matt Moore. The services provided by these community partners fulfilled the

GSI-TFS camp’s theme this year: “More than Me” Exploring the Environments Around Us.”

Dr. Hill served with the Girls STEM Institute – Muncie location for its first summer as a guest consultant. She is ecstatic to have this opportunity to share her passion in a program that benefits MCS teachers and Delaware County diverse underserved students. The scholars completed the Draw-A-Scientist (DAST) on day one and on the last day of camp, like last year, to see if the girl’s science identity was impacted by this program. Pre and post assessments were implemented along with daily reflections to determine any changes in the scholar’s science content knowledge. Before each enrichment and lab activity each scholar completed a KWL chart to share what they know for sure, what they want to know, and what they learned. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic many of the scholar’s expressed a desire to do science face to face and be accessed on what they learned since this was a major gap in some of their schools in 2020 - 2022. Each scholar completed formative and summative assessments daily; practiced handwriting in their own cursive handwriting books; recorded reflections in a science journal; and implemented hands- on, minds-on experiments with a scholar in cooperative-learning groups. Drs. Hill and Morton along with the MCS teachers are looking forward to the results from this pilot study and are planning additional experiences based on the feedback from the GSI-TFS Scholar oral and written reflections from this summer. Our goal is to continue this research agenda each summer to identify how to influence the scholar’s science identity and increase their science content knowledge in the Girls STEM Institute -Training Future Scientist Program at Ball State University in Muncie.

Reya,Dr.14Rona Robinson-Hill

Health & Wellness

What is Depression?

Depression is a very real medical issue. It does not mean there is something wrong with you or that you are not strong enough to feel better. It is due to a chemical imbalance in the brain. This is common in teenagers and pre teen years because the hormones are cycling wildly due to puberty. This hormonal imbalance mixed, with the high levels of stress and expectation during these years, makes it easy to become overwhelmed.

If you are depressed, you cannot just decide to feel happy and fix the issues. Yes, this is part of the process. You do have to try to find positive things in your day. Mostly though, it requires help to overcome. Talking with a counselor or psychologist is the most important part. It helps you identify the emotions you are experiencing that are making you feel this way. Sometimes too, medication is needed in addition to therapy. This will help balance the chemical irregularity happening in the brain. Taking a medication will not make you feel 100% back to normal, but it will help the hormone balance enough so you can use other tools to help you get back to yourself. Needing to take an antidepressant medication does not mean you are crazy or not trying hard enough.

Some people who are depressed harm themselves in an effort to feel things. One common example is people who cut themselves. If this sounds like you, or someone you know, it is scary and overwhelming. You may feel alone like you cant’ talk to anyone about it, especially not an adult because what if you get in trouble? This is absolutely NOT the case. The world today is much more overwhelming and has way more stress than in the past. Finding ways to deal with all the stress is difficult. You can ABSOLUTELY and ALWAYS tell an adult about the situation. You will not get in trouble. It is ok to ask for help. Find an adult you trust- a parent, a guidance counselor, a teacher, a doctor, and tell them what is going on. Odds are, they will know resources to help.

Happy New Year

Jan. Jan. Jan. Jan.

Indiana Pacer & Toronto

Mon. 7pm

Gainbridge Fieldhouse

Kids Fun Skate

Skateland, Indianapolis 12:30-3 pm

The Harlem Globetrotters

Gainbridge Fieldhouse 11:30 am

Gainbridge Fieldhouse

Disney on Ice Sun 11am - 3 pm

Gainbridge Fieldhouse Jan.

Disney on Ice: Dream Big Fri: 11 am - 4 pm .

Do you have a STORY to tell? STORY