Mission Statement Sister-to-Sister aims to support middle school girls in the area. We get together with the girls in an informal and comfortable environment and discuss common issues including school, body image, peer pressure and relationships. We act as a support system for the girls, and host monthly events such as log rolling, zumba and game night.
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Summit |
The STS Summit is the highlight of the year, and it is on the basis of the Summit that many girls keep returning to the monthly events. At the summit, girls have a chance to spend an entire day bonding with girls from their schools and the surrounding area. In addition to learning new skills they can develop their talents in different workshops and share their views on the middle school experience.
This year on Saturday, November 19th 2016 about 30 middle school girls from all around Addison County came to the Kirk Alumni Center on Middlebury College campus for Sister-to-Sister’s day-long summit. We started with breakfast from Middbagel, then moved onto an all-group dance workshop with a Middlebury College dance professor. We also had smaller workshops where girls could participate in yoga, a capella, improve, engineering, cooking, and poetry writing workshops. Next we broke out into discussion groups to talk about the impact of social media, and finally we closed with cupcake decorating and a slideshow of the day’s events! |
Our Beginnings
The Sister-to-Sister program was launched at Middlebury College during an intensive winter term class taught by Associate Director of Athletics Gail D. Smith in 2005 and supported by LIS staff member Liane Barrera and Karin Hanta, director of the women’s resource Center, Chellis House. Sister-to-Sister was developed from a template used by the American Association of University Women (AAUW), a national organization focused on women’s education and equity. After familiarizing themselves with psychological and social issues pertinent to middle school girls, the four Middlebury students in the class designed a one-day “summit” that took place in February 2005. Since then, the summit has included both active and reflective workshops, alternating new experiences such as yoga, dance, and acapella classes with discussions about issues such as body image and peer pressure. Over the past twelve years, the Middlebury program has flourished, attracting dozens of college students every year. They have widened the scope of the program to include monthly events open to all middle school girls in Addison County, Vermont, from October through May. The full-day Sister-to-Sister Summit has remained a fixture in November. Our students have come up with innovative programming such as log rolling, Zumba, international cooking, and STEM workshops during with the college students and the younger girls develop friendships in a nurturing atmosphere.
Media
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Check out the video about us from Middlebury Community Television!
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