Alexis Franklin-Week 1

Hi everyone! I’m Alexis Franklin and I’m a rising sophomore planning to major in psychology. This summer I’m really excited to learn more about the Memphis community and to become a part of the change that is taking place in our city. Even though I am from Memphis, I still get caught in my same little bubble. I am hoping this fellowship will help me branch out and form connections with people all over the city. In high school I participated in a mentoring program where upperclassmen girls served as spiritual mentors to the middle school girls. This experience inspired me to pursue a career that focuses on developing girls into successful women. For this reason, I decided Girls Incorporated of Memphis would be the perfect fit for me. Girls Inc. is a national organization that provides programs that foster young girls to be successful in the world by teaching them to be strong, smart, and bold. GIM has locations all across the United States and a few in Canada. 

Girls Inc. of Memphis has several programs including Center Based Programs, Eureka, Girls U, College Prep Program, and the Youth Farm. I will be working with their Center Based Program summer camps at the Lucille DeVore Tucker Center on 7th Street, right down the street from Rhodes. The summer camps have three two-week sessions each focusing on a single aspect of their goal: inspire all girls to be strong, smart, and bold. The first session is strong camp which encourages and teaches girls to maintain a healthy lifestyle such as nutrition, sexual education, exercise, and mental health. The next session is smart camp and its focus is to introduce girls to subjects and careers that are stereotypically for boys such as STEM. It also focuses on teaching girls to make smart life decisions and improving literacy. The last session is bold camp which encourages girls to express their talents and helps them develop public speaking skills. 

This week started our smart camp and on Tuesday I hit the ground running. The camp officially started on Monday so I had to get used to flow of things. The typical day consisted of free time, team building activities, and mini activities/sessions geared towards healthy living. I led a few of the sessions and facilitated other staff members with some. I was able to work with all the different age groups which I loved because they all bring something unique to the table. The beginning of the week was very overwhelming, but toward the end I started to get the hang of things. I really enjoyed getting to know the girls and the other staff members. I can’t wait until next week!

From Girls Inc. I hope to learn how to better my communication and leadership skills. I’m looking forward to developing relationships with the girls and becoming a positive influence in their lives. I am also looking forward to hearing about everyone else’s experiences!