MAGIC

A m b i ti o u s G i r l s MAGIC: MENTORING

Tiffany Metoyer

TO INSPIRE CHANGE

The League year is in full force, and so is MAGIC (Mentoring Ambitious Girls to Inspire Change)! MAGIC is a wonderful partnership between the Junior League of Shreveport-Bossier and Volunteers of America (VOA) Lighthouse Teen Club. The program focuses on positive engagement and personal development, and provides the young women a safe space after school.

MAGIC is a wonderful placement for women who enjoy building relationships with others and working together to be positive influences in the lives of young girls, as a mentor. Creating a safe space for the girls to open up and share their feelings and opinions, laugh, play games, and learn new things is the greatest reward. At the end of a long day, it often feels as freeing to us as volunteers as it is to the girls.

MAGIC meets the second and fourth Monday of each month, September through April. Volunteers share presentations with the VOA girls about a variety of topics such as social media presence, self-care, journaling, and healthy lifestyle choices. This year, due to the pandemic, we have hosted our session virtually in conjunction with the CDC recommendations for safe gathering and social events. We have placed a special emphasis in our sessions on the girls sharing their feelings and navigating through these everchanging times as a high-schooler.

During our virtual zoom sessions, we take time in the beginning of the session to just check-in with the girls and see how life is going, how their day has gone at school, and we allow them to share any great or exciting news they may have. This year Junior League volunteers have joined together with the coordinator of the VOA Teen Club to discuss how we would approach various topics and what would be best suited for this group of girls. In doing so, we have covered topics such as “It Starts with Why,” personal hygiene, and body positivity. We were afforded one faceto-face gathering for our holiday party in December where we played games, shared snacks, and volunteers and girls got to meet—in some cases, for the first time. It was a very special night for us. Other topics that we have coming up for the remainder of the year include etiquette training and self-care/wellness. This is my fourth year in MAGIC, and what a wonderful year it has been so far. It has been such an honor to serve as Head Volunteer and share this League year with some amazing women. Naina Bouchereau-Lal serves as Assistant Head Volunteer; Stacy Chiasson, Felecia Gipson, Devon Leon, Allison Washington, Katherine Stringer-Davis, Sara Patronella Wolfe, and Amanda Cacapava serve as MAGIC volunteers and mentors to the VOA girls throughout the year.

We look forward to continuing a wonderful MAGIC year! While meeting virtually has its challenges, we positively take them all in stride to create the best experience for the girls and ourselves. The relationships formed are truly life changing for us all and we are grateful for the experience.