STORY BY Jason Tinney
HOWARD COUNTY GIRLS ADVOCATE CHILD MARRIAGE AND EDUCATION.
Maya James, a 15-year-old student at Oakland Mills High recently described her reaction to a story of a 10-year-old girl forced into an arranged marriage:
“It made me angry, because at the age of 10, I thought boys were gross.” Her comment brought a round of 
giggles from the girls she was speaking with, but most knew that the subject was serious. Maya explained, “When humans see that someone is being treated the wrong way, then they’ll want to speak out and do something about it.”
This is the spirit behind School Girls Unite (SGU), a national nonprofit engaging young women in Mali and the United States to raise awareness of worldwide prejudice against girls. Local school girls like Maya, who joined SGU in sixth grade, collaborate as philanthropists and political activists advocating specifically for an end to child marriage and an education for every girl, everywhere.
In November I met with nearly 20 girls who put aside their after-school activities – their homework, sports, hanging out with friends – to discuss School Girls Unite. Not only was I impressed by their passion, I was taken with the poise and eloquence with which they spoke about the causes they advocate. My initial introduction to School Girls Unite was through a letter written by James: “Education is a right … that everyone is entitled to as outlined in the U.N. 2015 Millennium Goals … Not everyone is aware of the situation facing girls in third-world countries. I like to think of the situation as a natural disaster.” I ask Maya what she means by “natural disaster.” “When a natural disaster occurs you need a lot of people to help recover,” she says. “When someone is denied education, that’s a disaster because you’ve lost so many opportunities – to recover from that you need the effort of many people, an entire community.”
More than 60 girls belong to the Howard County chapters of School Girls Unite, which is committed to the goals of expanding girls’ freedom and opportunities through education and leadership. School Girls Unite provides money for scholarships to a sister chapter in Mali, West Africa. That organization, Les Filles Unies pour L’Education, manages the scholarship program by regularly visiting the rural schools, meeting with the younger students, their parents and teachers.
The local ties to School Girls Unite began in May 2005 when a group of girls from Oakland Mills Middle attended the Howard County Middle School Gifted and Talented (GT) Expo. Wendy Lesko, a youth activist volunteer who co-founded School Girls Unite in 2004, gave the keynote address. By the following October, the students were still thinking about what they learned that spring day and decided to pursue their own chapter.
The students developed a research investigation project focusing on the issue of child marriage, and the first Howard County School Girls Unite chapter was created. Through their research, they began to understand the issue and its direct link to inequalities in education for girls; when girls are married at age 12, any hope of going to school is lost. The students in Howard County realized immediately – and intuitively – that the way to combat child marriage is to improve access to education for girls.
They set to work, and later that year the Oakland Mills Middle schoolers met with and successfully petitioned U.S. Congressman John Sarbanes to co-sponsor two legislative proposals: the Education for All Act and the International Protecting Girls by Preventing Child Marriage Act.
In 2008, Oakland Mills SGU created “The Book,” a colossal interactive petition to support the U.N. Millennium Development Goals for equity in education. “The Book” has thus far garnered more than 1,000 signatures from girls and boys, as well as adults, in the Howard County area. In addition, the group produces videos, presentations and resource packets to be used during International Education Week in local schools.
At Oakland Mills Middle, an ongoing fundraising drive, selling Valentine’s Day carnations and jewelry from Mali, has generated more than $1,000. Every dime has gone into the School Girls Unite Scholarship fund for tuition, textbooks and tutors for 70 girls in Mali.
“These Howard County students do far more than raise money so girls in Mali can go to school,” Wendy Lesko says. “Based on what they learn about global gender inequities, these students are influential advocates when they urge decision makers to support Education for All and other initiatives to guarantee basic education and human rights for every girl in the world.”
SGU chapters spearheaded a national campaign seeking recognition for “Day of the Girl,” a celebration that highlights advancing girl’s lives and opportunities globally. The special day was decreed on September 22, 2011, by the Board of Education and a Howard County Joint Proclamation.
A year later, “The Book,” a potent tool in the campaign, traveled to then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s office to aid in supporting the United Nations creation of the International Day of the Girl Child held October 11, 2012. SGU’s efforts in banging the drum for this goal were not only recognized by the Howard County Government, which proclaimed 10/11/12 as Day of the Girl. Governor O’Malley also honored girls. A ceremonial reading of the state proclamation was delivered at the inaugural Day of the Girl celebration held at the Maryland Women’s Heritage Center in Baltimore.
“I think [Day of the Girl] was one of the great successes,” says Maria Janush, a freshman at Reservoir High School. “It will really create awareness, and hopefully it will help fix the problems we are trying to solve.”
Students connect with School Girls Unite in very personal ways. Oakland Mills High freshman Dania Lopez, whose family is from Puerto Rico and Honduras, is invested in better educating herself about and supporting the rights of girls outside the United States.
“The reason it speaks to me is that a lot of my family members live in Honduras,” Lopez says. “I need to understand what they go through, and the reason I decided to join School Girls Unite was to help women and kids and people in general, to show that everybody should be equal no matter their race, gender – anything. Because in the end, we all are still human and we all deserve the same rights as each other.”
Karen Saunderson, the Gifted and Talented resource teacher who facilitates SGU at Oakland Mills Middle, couldn’t be more proud of what her students and other Howard County chapters have accomplished. And she also sees the organization paving roads for the future.
“One of the goals of the program is to build leadership and build research skills and build those skills that will make them successful as they go through high school and later in life, to become leaders in our community,” she says. While girls – and young women – involved in SGU are developing new life skills they’re also learning how to cultivate confidence in themselves. “When you know that you can get your message across and people actually listen, it builds your self-esteem,” says Giovanna Guarnieri, a freshman at Reservoir High, who, with Maria Janush, started their own chapter of SGU.
The students of School Girls Unite have learned another important lesson, one not often encouraged in children and teens: if you are going to address issues you need to raise your voice. “I want to be part of a change in this world,” says Nicki Blair, an 11-year-old seventh grader at Harper’s Choice Middle. “If you’re just sitting
in a chair nothing is going to happen.” *
