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Wonder Girls program boosts Moulton students
By MEGHAN V. MALLOY
DES MOINES REGISTER
STAFF WRITER
November 15, 2006
After-school club gives kids a safe, healthy place to hang out
A dozen girls dash into a makeshift classroom, giggling and talking over one another.
One wants to dig into the after-school snacks immediately. Another starts dancing around, ecstatic about the first snow of the season.
It's a Friday afternoon, and the Wonder Girls, a club comprised of fourth- and fifth-grade girls from Moulton School in Des Moines, meets at the Children and Families Urban Ministries, 1548 Eighth St., for two hours of girl talk, learning and projects.
Skywalker Payne, who directs the Wonder Girls, gets everyone fed and under control.
On this particular Friday, the girls will be polishing a Wonder Girls cheer they developed a few sessions ago, and start work on a play.
The Wonder Girls, exclusive to Moulton, receives funding from the Chrysalis Foundation to pay for activities.
The girls meet weekly on Fridays after school at the ministries building across from Moulton. Class sizes vary from 10 girls up to 30.
Payne, who has directed the Wonder Girls since its inception in early 2005, said she hopes to create an environment every week where the girls can express themselves and feel safe.
"The whole purpose is to provide a safe place where they can keep their voice in terms of sharing ideas and speaking up," Payne said.
The environment is one the children enjoy, too.
"We dance and talk about friendship," said Deon Cooper, 10, a fifth-grade veteran of the Wonder Girls. "We all learn to believe in each other."
Niara Willis, 10, also in fifth grade at Moulton, said she likes learning cheers that Payne and Allie Harshberger, a work study student at the center, teach the girls.
Payne said she encourages the girls to voice their ideas and opinions by allowing them to choose the projects, from knitting to planning crafts, to sell to raise money to go on a retreat.
"I just give the guidance," Payne said.
The Wild Girls, another Chrysalis-funded group for Moulton's sixth- through eighth-grade girls, set the precedent for the Wonder Girls.
"People in the neighborhood know who the Wild Girls are, and now the Wonder Girls are starting to get that positive reputation, too," Payne said. "This group sets these girls apart in what is a very positive light."
The girls are not the only group in the city to benefit from Chrysalis funding.
Twenty-five after-school care programs have been established in the Des Moines metro area, including three high school clubs.
The Chrysalis Foundation started the first after-school program in 1998.
Terry Hernandez, executive director of the Chrysalis Foundation, said the focus of the organization is to better the lives of women and children, primarily elementary school girls.
"(Founder) Louise Noun strongly believed in the rights of women and girls," Hernandez said. "She believed all women should have the chance to be educated, employed and successful."
Noun, who died in 2002 at the age of 94, left the Chrysalis Foundation a legacy through her estate so the organization could continue on a long-term basis.
Since 1998, three high schools, eight elementary schools, and 14 middle schools in the Des Moines have benefitted from the endowment.
Chrysalis is also looking to expand its work to other communities in the state.
In order to receive funding from the foundation, after-school programs must meet weekly, the girls in the program must take initiative with projects, and the groups must be willing to share what they do with other school groups.
There are also certain guidelines to adhere to, such as focusing on the role of women in society and women's health.
"It's is a wonderful resource for Des Moines," said Carmen Lampe-Zeitler, executive director of Children and Family Urban Ministries. "We wouldn't be able to have these programs without help from Chrysalis.
"There is something valuable in girls being able to spend time together," she said.
Reporter Meghan V. Malloy can be reached at (515) 284-8065 or memalloy@dmreg.com
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| Tamira Hall, left, and Abigail Santos rehearse a play at the Wonder Girls after-school program at the Children and Families Urban Ministries in Des Moines. The club is designed to give fourth- and fifth-grade girls from Moulton School a safe place to express themselves. |
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