​Kincardine teacher empowers young women through girls group at Huron Heights

Kirsten Ryan, a Grade 5 teacher at Huron Heights Public School in Kincardine, believes in empowering young women and promoting environmental stewardship.

For the past eight years, she has been encouraging both of those ideals through a girls group at the school.

Earlier this month, the group held a clothing exchange (right) which was a great collaborative effort to promote sustainability, sisterhood, community, and to help the girls express themselves in their own unique way with a new fabulous outfit or two.

"As a group, we discuss puberty, bullying, self-esteem, gender stereotypes and empowerment practices," said Ryan. "Our clothing exchange allows us to promote environmental stewardship and access to new styles and clothing that can help with self-esteem, close financial gaps and make girls feel beautiful and fabulous. We take donations, give the girls each a bag, and let them take all they need to feel like a true fashionista. The leftover clothing is donated to goodwill which extends the idea of giving and sharing."

Huron Heights also has a school-wide initiative called "Project Butterfly," she said, where girls can access envelopes, decorated with powerful messages, that hold hygiene products so they can manage their cycles discretely and not worry about the washroom supply running out.

"We have made vision boards, bags from recycled T-shirts, collaborative art pieces, friendship bracelets and more," said Ryan. "The hope is that the girls will know there is a space and community in the school where they are seen and celebrated as strong young women. It is also open to female-identifying or non-binary students if they feel it is a good fit.

"The group welcomes women from the community to discuss their journeys: 519 Braids, Laura Fohkens and Amanda Saxton of the Kincardine Environmental Action Network (KEAN), to name a couple. Parent volunteers and various staff members also get involved. This all has a very positive impact on mental health and solidarity since we share our concerns and insecurities, our stories and strategies for overcoming barriers.

"We always start the year with an activity in which girls write down their biggest fears or anxieties about school and then place them on a post-it note. They post it on the board and the participants have a chance to see the fears of others which are usually the same as their own - being left out, feeling embarrassed about their body type, etc.

"The last exercise of the year includes having each girl put her name on a piece of paper and all the participants circle through to give a compliment to that student. They then get to keep the paper as a reminder that they are loved.

"We listen to Adele, Sia, Taylor Swift, Beyonce, Rihanna and other fabulous strong women that I promote as role models. I follow Margaret Mead's philosophy: 'Never doubt that a small group of committed citizens can change the world; in fact, it is the only thing that ever has'."

"For me, I believe that the sisterhood and community that comes from women and girls sharing space, is incredibly powerful. I model that it is this power, and we, local women, who can get into our communities to spread joy, promote strength, and advocate for inclusion in both local and global contexts."



Huron Heights Public School, Kincardine, girls group clothing exchange; photos courtesy of Kirsten Ryan