Grads give girls advice

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Aubrey Crowley talks with a group of junior high girls about the topics of judging and bullying during a Girl Talk session in Davenport July 28.

By Anne Marie Amacher

DAVENPORT — Nineteen junior high school girls listened to talks about self-confidence, faith, boys, friends and more during a “Girl Talk” hosted by three Assumption High School graduates.

Aubrey Crowley, Jessica Elizondo and Kathleen Hoil, all 2009 Assumption graduates, organized the July 28 talk for junior high girls because they thought the topics needed to be discussed with that age group.

The three became friends their senior year at Assumption. Because they had dealt with many of the topics they talked about, they thought a session should be put together.

They initially thought about offering the session to incoming freshmen because of their experience as peer mentors for freshmen while they were at Assumption.

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“We saw girls going through these problems … and decided maybe we should nip it in the bud earlier,” said Hoil.

So they approached Julie Fulton, a counselor at Assumption. She agreed the talk was a good idea and that junior high girls should be invited. Fulton sent out word to Scott County parishes about the talk.

The trio has its own “girl talk.” “That’s how we came up with the title,” Elizondo said. “We live it out. We talk about everything together at least once a week together,” Crowley added.

The July 28 talk began with introductions and then a presentation by each of the three teens, followed by breakouts with smaller groups and then reiterating each talk’s lesson.

The first topic was about friends, which included a listening game for the breakout. The lesson Crowley emphasized:  you don’t need a lot of friends, just good ones.

Next was girl drama/competition. Hoil led that session, with the lesson being that girls should rise above all the drama. Elizondo led a session on self-image, which taught that you need to be truly happy with who you are.

They also talked about judging/bullying, parents, being your own best friend and boy talk and held a question and answer session.

For the boy talk, three Assumption graduates — Brady Frieden, Jared McIntosh and Michael Millea — gave the presentation from a guy’s point of view.

The afternoon included an ice cream social and the opportunity for the junior high girls to write down questions that they were too embarrassed to ask out loud.

The ice cream break offered a lesson as well.

Each girl who attended brought an ice cream topping, such as chocolate, strawberry syrup, candies, colored sugar and sprinkles.

“The different ice cream toppings symbolize our differences,” Crowley said. “No one topping is worth any less than the next, just like one person is not any lesser than the next.”


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