Day of the Girl

Sara Lockie on October 12, 2023

October 11 is International Day of the Girl. This is an opportunity to celebrate the power of girls, discuss the challenges girls face worldwide, and take action to advance the rights of girls everywhere. The statistics are staggering:

  • Worldwide, 4 out of 10 girls are not completing secondary school.
  • About 90% of adolescent girls and young women do not use the internet, while their male peers are twice as likely to be online.
  • More than 100 million girls are at risk of child marriage in the next decade. Source: UN

International Day of the Girl Child has its roots in the 1995 World Conference on Women in Beijing when girls’ rights were specifically called out. In 2011 the United Nations General Assembly declared October 11 International Day of the Girl Child. This complements the annual International Women’s Day on March 8, which started in 1975.

I would like to recommend two insightful activities that prompt discussion for both students and adults:

June and Juliet climbing on low branch
Tasting veggies at the Botanical Center
Making a sediment jar

Adolescent girls have the right to a safe, educated, and healthy life. Together we can bring about change in our community. We need to learn our history and choose leaders who will invest in change globally.

Wear Orange

Sara Lockie on June 2, 2023

Today I’m wearing orange. My kids are, too. 

The first Friday in June is National Gun Violence Awareness Day. The weekend has been designated as Wear Orange Weekend. Atttend an event around the country, including here in Iowa.

Ten years ago—and less than a week after performing at President Obama’s second inauguration— 15-year-old Hadiya Pendleton was shot and killed on a playground in Chicago. Soon after this tragedy, Hadiya’s childhood friends decided to commemorate her life by wearing orange, the color hunters wear in the woods to protect themselves and others. Wear Orange originated on June 2, 2015—what would have been Hadiya’s 18th birthday. 

The color orange has a long and proud history in the gun safety movement. Whether worn by hunters in cornfields, activists at the statehouse in Des Moines, or Hadiya’s loved ones in Chicago, orange honors the more than 120 lives cut short and the hundreds more wounded by gun violence every day —and it demands action.

We Wear Orange to demand a future free from gun violence. Orange symbolizes the value of each person’s life and we wear it to honor those killed, wounded or impacted by gun violence, and to call for an end to this crisis.

Whatcha Reading?

Martha McCormick on November 14, 2022

So for November, Native American Heritage Month, I’m reading books by indigenous authors. I’m nearly finished with “Indian Horse” by Richard Wagamese. It’s my favorite of the books I’ve read recently…

7 things to know about Public Measure 1

Sara Lockie on November 5, 2022

This amendment would make it harder for law enforcement to do their job. Public health, gun violence prevention, domestic violence intervention and religious groups are encouraging Iowans to vote NO.

How can you help?

Shelly Johnson on July 19, 2022

Each day, new things jumped out at me as I moved around the school–respectful discipline to disrespectful students, help for students struggling with technology. Teachers took attendance, engaged their students in interesting lessons, and built meaningful connections.

Soulmates

Martha McCormick on June 20, 2022

As I plunge the depths of art and yoga, as I travel more, and find new next steps, it’s great to have a team member that can finish my sentences, and pick up my work where I leave it.