YWCA Pasadena and Glendale have overcome the obstacles presented by the pandemic to continue to support girls through Camp Rosie, our joint virtual summer camp. Each week-long session is a mix of workshops addressing topics such as mindfulness and self-care, exercise, art and self expression, understanding their civil rights, planning for their future, and exploring the STEM fields.

The YWCA Glendale & YWCA Pasadena believe in girls’ abilities to pursue and succeed in the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts & Math! Despite under representation in these fields, Camp Rosie participants are inspired to gain confidence in their abilities. For example, our participants were able to dissect owl pellets to learn about their diets with Teranga Ranch, learn to code through Google CS First coding,  and even had  Q&As with NASA JPL Instruments Engineer Janelle Wellons and  Allison Strom of Carnegie Observatories. The girls were inspired by their talks on finding success in the STEM fields, and encouraged to pursue their goals.

We also put emphasis on our girls mental and physical well-being. So far, our girls participated in healthy relationship workshops, an ongoing writing project with Glendale Libraries, Girls’ Circles discussion groups, yoga and afro-funk dance classes, photography instruction, and poetry writing with Katherine Kottaras.

Most importantly, the girls were able to plan for their future and understand their civil rights. They looked ahead to higher education with a virtual college tour, created teen business plans with Pasadena Federal Credit Union, participated in a Know Your Rights workshop, celebrated Juneteeth, and talked about their rights as youth.

Student Feedback:

• Leni: “I felt like I fit in”
• Sofia: “I am greatful for this opportunity to learn many things about women empowerment”
• Natalie: “Everyone was nice and supportive throughout camp.”
• Niamh: “everyone was really nice and i’m really happy I got to do this!”
• Sofia: “I was thankful I could rant without being to weird”
• Anneka: “its so great that everyone here is liike so nice”
• “I appreciate the fact that we can communicate in a way that makes no one feel ashamed of their opinions”
• “I appreciate even in quarantine we get to do fun things like this”
• “I appreciate all the effort that was put in to the camp even though we’re in quarantine”
• “I appreciate all of the camp counselors for taking time out of there day to come see us”
• “I appreciate all the new things I learned”
• “This was fun. I appreciate how everyone took time out of their day to do this”