A Stellar 1st day of GO-GIRL!

Saturday, February 2nd, 2013

Well, we are off and running! Just looking at the girls in their groups by the end of the day today, you would never know that they were perfect strangers this morning.

The day was spent getting to know one another and the mentors.  What better way to do get to know one another than to play icebreakers!

One of the icebreakers was called, "Honey if you love me, will you please smile for me?" In this exercise, all of the students stood in a circle while one student went to someone she hoped she could make smile (the point of the game being not to smile, but that was near impossible for everyone-the giggles were contagious!). If the participant smiled, the smiler (then "it") would continue to ask someone else this question and hope that the next person would smile. This activity broke the ice between girls who were not to familiar with each other and were out of their comfort zone. It was a very easy-going first day that helped the girls get comfortable with everyone and their new environment. By the end of the day, the girls went from being strangers to forming long-term friendships! The laughing and giggling was heard from every classroom throughout the day as more games and icebreakers ensued.

Also, the girls learned about graphs and how to analyze and interpret them, which will come in handy later in the semester as the girls will be researching a topic, administering surveys, and analyzing data. At noon, the girls enjoyed a buffet-style lunch in the Towers dorm dining hall. After lunch, the girls went back to their classrooms, paired up with a partner and were given a Macbook. They used the computers to take an online survey regarding futures careers and other interesting topics.

Finally, the girls came up with team names for their groups. We're proud to present our GO-GIRL groups for the Winter 2013 semester:

Group 1 (Mentors Becky & Taylor): Queen Bee Yellow Jackets
Group 2 (Mentors Macy & Radha): Invincible Investigators
Group 3 (Mentors Jodi & Mary): TTYL (Talented Team of Young Ladies)
Group 4 (Mentors Fayzha & La'Shana): FBI Girls (Fabulous, Beautiful, Intelligent)
Group 5 (Mentors Nina & Sarah): SM&ART (Science, Math, and Art)
Group 6 (Mentors Melissa & Terrel): H4 (High Heels High Hopes)

Looking forward to our 2nd day! :)

GO-GIRL 2011 Day 3

Saturday, February 12, 2011

We are well on our way to learning about research. One of today's activities consisted of talking about the notion of bias. We discussed what it means to be biased and we came up with some definitions. We discovered it is basically another way to say "unfair." We talked in our teams about whether or not we have ever experiences bias in any way. We also took part in a physical activity where we moved around the room and sorted ourselves according to categories. Our mentors asked us a series of questions and we sorted ourselves in response. This helped us understand creating good category systems for our survey question answer choices. We also discussed hypotheses and predictions. Lunch was provided care of McDonalds in the WSU Student Center. A fulfilling and educational day for all! :)

GO-GIRL 2011 Day 2

Saturday, February 5, 2011

We are really getting on a roll now! Day 2 was a wonderfully tiring first day! The GGs built a chain of their strengths, an activity led by a few of our fabulous mentors. This chain represents all of the awesome qualities and talents our GO-GIRLs possess, which are endless! Then in groups of teams, the GGs and their mentors discussed surveys and some issues that come up when creating or conducting a survey, this is all in preparation of the surveys the teams will be creating, compiling data from, and assessing the data. This in mind, they also had an opportunity to maneuver the software they'll use to do all of this- InspireData. Lunch was busy and the food from McDonalds was running late but thankfully everyone was patient and eventually everyone satisfied their hunger that had been building all morning! In addition to all of the other activities today, the GO-GIRLs and their teams have created their team names and the themes of their surveys, which are as follows:

Team 1 with Mentors Alisha & Lanae: C.R.A.Z.Y. (Creative, Real, Active, Zany, Young) Awesome Ladies. They will explore body image!

Team 2 with Mentors Deloris & Elizabeth: Pretty Girl Swag. Their theme is body image!

Team 3 with Mentors Brenda & Jared: BCM- Beautiful Classy Misses. These GGs will cover technology!

Team 4 with Mentors Lisa & Lisa: P3 (Pretty Powerful, Pre-Teens). Team 4 went with Fashion!

Team 5 with Mentors Alison & Desiree: DGAO (Diverse Girls as One). Body image and fashion will be complete Team 5's research!

Team 6 with Mentors Carolyn & Sarah: Scientists with Style. These GGs will explore peer pressure!

Team 7 with Mentors Tamara & Winnie: Pink Saturdays. This groups of gals wish to learn about music and how it affects mood and behavior!

We are well on our way into this semester of GO-GIRL and we are so pleased for all who could join us! Please keep checking back for weekly updates and more as we continue on with our projects and learning! And always feel free to email us at gogirl@wayne.edu to let us know what you'd like to see on the blog! :)

GG Day 2

Saturday, February 13, 2010

What a fun-filled day at GO-GIRL! Today the girls and their teams discussed surveys and the who, what, why, where and how of them. Each team brainstormed a topic of interest for them. Although each team's survey and topic is in different stages of development, what they have come up with this week will get them thinking and going on further creating a topic for their eventual survey.

Because of all of the teamwork and brainstorming, today the girls seemed to come together and they got to know one another a little better. Each team began to create a team poster highlighting themselves with their team name, the team members, and adjectives to describe themselves. Wait until you see how creative they are! The sense of community is strong and always growing!

With this weekend off due to the school breaks, we hope everyone is resting well and preparing for a BUSY week next week. We're going to the Undergraduate Library (UGL) on Wayne State's campus and it is going to be so exciting to learn more about research from our favorite librarians! Hopefully everyone remembers to wear their GO-GIRL t-shirt so we can stick together and show our pride!

And, parents, don't forget about the GG Parent Cafe being held for you from 9:30-11:00am in Room 10 of the College of Education building. Our staff, university experts, and community resources persons will join us to provide opportunities for networking, share information and resources, and help you help your daughters.

We'll look forward to seeing everyone next Saturday, February 27th!

GG Day 1

Saturday, February 6, 2010

Today was Day 1 of GG 2010! First, the GGs paired up to get to know each other and work on Personality BINGO and "All About Us" venn diagrams. These activities allowed the GGs to explore some similarities and differences among themselves.

Once everyone was well-acquainted with one another, the GGs and their teams chose their team names, which are as follows:

Team 1 - Mentors: Michael & Nicole

S.W.A.G.G. (Super, Working, Awesome, GO-GIRLs)

Team 2 - Mentors: Tracey & Laura

B.O.U.N.C.E. (Beautiful, Outgoing, Unique, Nice, Cute, Educated)

Team 3 - Mentors: Kelli & Jennifer Lee

The Stinging Roses

Team 4 - Mentors: Stephanie & Michele

Blazin' Babes!

Team 5 - Mentors: Colleen & Sabine

G.I.A. (Girls In Action)

Team 6 - Mentors: Jen Lenk & Angela

The Shining Stars

After creating their wonderfully individual team names, the GGs and their teams created and completed a survey. Some of the themes of these surveys included after-school snacks and stores for shopping. This is only a taste of the kind of social research the GGs will conduct over the next 9 weeks.

The GGs also learned more about GO-GIRL by playing GG Jeopardy and watching a video montage of photos from last year's GG 2009 semester.

We're looking forward to a great second week! :)

Kicking off GO-GIRL 2010!

GG Orientation, Saturday, January 30, 2010

GO-GIRL got off to a great start last Saturday as the new batch of 57 GO-GIRLs and their parents, friends, and relatives met their new GO-GIRL mentors and team members. This semester's 57 GO-GIRLS proudly represent 16 different communities and attend 38 different middle schools.

Held in the cafe of the WSU Towers Residence Hall, the orientation included a meet & greet among GO-GIRLs and their new team members and mentors. Dr. Sally Roberts gave an uplifting opening speech during which parents and GGs snacked on cookies and sodas.

Whitney, a former GO-GIRL participant from the Class of 2003, has returned to support the new class of GO-GIRLs. She is now a sophomore at Wayne State University and is majoring in languages including Spanish, Chinese, and Japanese. We are so excited that she will join us this semester and know that she will be a source of inspiration to new GO-GIRLs.

GO-GIRL seems to have recurring faces, like Whitney, and sisters of former GO-GIRLs. This semester there are at least 3 girls whose older sisters have graduated from GG in the past. Our family of GO-GIRLs continues to grow!