GEN's Voice

Issue 11

May 2002

GENaustin would like to congratulate all of their high school and college graduates!

Elisabeth Chaney, GENaustin Executive Assistant: Elisabeth will graduate from the University of Texas at Austin with degrees in both Communication Studies and Public Relations. She plans to work and travel overseas this summer, and then return to continue as the administrative assistant at GENaustin's offices.

Megan Gendron, clubGEN High School Facilitator: Graduating from James Bowie High School, Megan plans to attend Southwest Texas University and study physical therapy.

Lauren Hermes, clubGEN High School Facilitator: Lauren will also graduate from Bowie, and plans to take a Disney Cruise with her family this summer and work at a summer camp. In the fall, she will attend Southwest Texas University to major in marketing. She wants to stay active with GENaustin and possibly get involved with Big Brothers Big Sisters.

Clair Momberger, clubGEN High School Facilitator: Claire, a Bowie graduate, was the recipient of a full scholarship to Brigham Young University. She plans to study linguistics.

Miranda Oropeza, clubGEN High School Facilitator: Miranda will be attending Southwest Texas University after graduating from Bowie High School. She plans to study public administration. She hopes to stay involved with GENaustin for as long as possible!

Brandie Sorrell, clubGEN High School Facilitator: Brandie will also graduate from Bowie High School, and plans to study social work and broadcasting at the University of Texas at Austin. She currently works as an intern at News8 Austin, and plans to continue interning this summer.

Traci Toone, clubGEN High School Facilitator: Traci has been accepted to the pre-med program at A&M; where she will go after graduating from Bowie. She hopes to one day be a pediatric oncologist.

One thing GENaustin has no shortage of is outstanding volunteers. This month we focus on Lauren Hermes, one of the young co-founders of clubGEN.

Lauren is a senior at Bowie High School. About a year ago, while working with her friend Miranda Oropeza, the two high school juniors discovered a similar passion: helping younger girls through their toughest adolescent years - middle school. They both had younger sisters who were the same age, and the two of them were constant reminders of the pains of changing "from a girl to a woman."

The two came up with the idea for a club where high school girls and eighth grade girls could come together to swap advice and just be themselves. As Lauren tells it, "Miranda and I recognized the opportunities this club could provide for girls. I was inspired to commit myself to help change the way adolescent girls feel about themselves."

They joined the GENaustin curriculum committee and with the commitment of GENaustin, they were able to start a clubGEN at Bailey, one of the middle schools that feeds into Bowie. They recruited four other high school girls to be facilitators with them.

The two groups of young woman have had a profound effect on each other. "By seeing all of their different forms of success, I could only push myself harder to achieve better for myself," says Lauren.

As you can see, we can say nothing more powerful about Lauren then what she says herself. "I have found room enough to discover myself," she says. "Meeting and working with so many different women has helped me discover direction in life. Because I have found something I love, everything in my life is benefiting from it. My grades have improved because I have made it habit to set goals for myself and achieve them. I am happier with myself, because I know what I expect, and I understand what I want and do not want out of the situations that life throws at me. Most of all my life has turned from being a teenager searching for a place to go in life to a person ready to accomplish her dreams and hopes for the future.

Lauren strongly believes that, "Tomorrow is not just another day, it can change your life forever." She will always remember the first day or clubGEN and the excited faces of all the girls. "It reminds me that everyone has something good to offer another," says Lauren. "I have been offered very much by all of the girls, and I can only pray that I have given just as much back or more. That is the goal that I hold most highly in my life, to give back the experience that I have received."

With what she's done so far, we think Lauren has already given back more than a lot of people do in a lifetime. Jenny Bair says of Lauren, "She is extremely dedicated to making change in the lives of children and girls. Lauren is very confident and sticks by her morals. She has high standards for herself and is not willing to compromise her values and beliefs. She is having the time of her life volunteering and being a role model."

Lauren's next adventure to finish her spring internship at GENaustin and going onto Southwest Texas to study business, marketing, and advertisement. "I want to be involved with a girl-focused business so I can be able to produce positive advertisement for adolescent girls," states Lauren. We wish Lauren the best of luck and know that she will continue to have a positive impact on girls, whatever she does.

This month we return to our introductions of GENaustin's Honorary Board members.

Pat Love, Ed.D., is a nationally known couple's therapist, and author of the best-selling book Hot Monogamy and the recently published The Truth About Love. A graduate of West Virginia University, Pat began her professional career as a Counselor Educator in marriage and family therapy at Texas A & M University, Commerce. She went on to co-found the Austin Family Institute.

A frequent media guest, Pat has appeared on every major television talk show including numerous appearances on Oprah Winfrey and NBC's Today Show. She was the main event speaker for GENaustin during the 2000-2001 school year. Her talent and expertise as a speaker have taken her across the United States, Canada, Mexico, Europe and Australia. She lives in Austin, TX.

One of the participants in our body image program contacted us to tell us how the program had positively impacted her daughter. Here's what she had to say:

Dear GENaustin--

THANK YOU! My daughter and I recently attended one of your speaker series events concerning body image and the part the media plays in influencing "who we are." What an eye opener! This excellent class should be taken by all teenage girls and women everywhere! Much thought-provoking, useful material was presented in a short time and in an interesting manner.

My daughter is a recovering anorexic, and I feel that the class had a positive impact on her recovery. One of the activities suggested was to write a letter to our bodies, and my daughter said hers would go something like this..."Dear Body, I'm sorry I abused you by not feeding you....I now know the difference between right and wrong...I hope you can forgive me..." She actively participated in class discussion, and, most importantly, told me on the ride home that she would welcome the chance to talk to others (even her friends) about what she went through, if it would help. This was a big step for someone who had been in denial that there even WAS a problem. We are hoping to form a clubGEN at our school next year as an avenue to discuss issues like this.

I would encourage others to take advantage of these sessions that GENaustin offers. We enjoyed it very much...not only the speaker's presentation and activities, but the opinions and thoughts exchanged by the participants, as well. Thank you, and keep up the good work!

E.B.
Round Rock

Do you want to help? Parents of pre-teen and teenage daughters with body image concerns are invited to participate in a University of Texas research project designed to help parents help their daughters feel better about their bodies.

Parent participants will attend three meetings over a three-week period and will complete three questionnaires. Daughters will also complete three questionnaires. Daughters will be paid $30 for their participation and parents will be entered into a raffle for one of six $50 gift certificates.

To find out more information about the Healthy Image Partnership (HIP) Parents Program, call 232-4803 or email [email protected].

Breakthrough, a national education program that helps low-income middle school students get to college with a 20-year track record of success, is looking for homestays for summer teachers.

The teachers coming to Austin are talented and diverse college students from around the U.S. who devote their summers to helping Austin's economically disadvantaged youth succeed in school.

A homestay family would provide room and meals for eight weeks, from June 1 to July 31. Teachers typically work from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday through Friday. They may grab a quick breakfast, pack a lunch, and then perhaps share dinner with you.

They would like to have all families identified by mid-May. If you are interested or would like more information, please contact Jessica D'Arcy, Executive Director, at 232-5179 or [email protected], or visit their web site at www.breakthroughaustin.org.

We wanted to take a moment to answer a question that occasionally comes up. What about boys?

At several points in our history, GENaustin has seriously considered expanding its focus to include boys. Many of our original volunteers, and now many of our board members, have sons. They are as deeply concerned about them as they are girls and young women. But because the organization grew out of emerging research into the impact of media and culture on girls' self esteem - and because one volunteer-based organization can only do so much - the organization has retained its original intention to focus on girls and young women.

Nonetheless, our concern for boys and young men remains. They are just as influenced by unhealthy stereotyping in the media, they are just as constricted by cultural expectations. We welcome efforts to help parents and educators better understand what boys need in order to grow into competent, capable and emotionally healthy men. After all, what could be better for girls and young women?

When you make a purchase at the following places part of your purchase goes to help fund GENaustin.

• Randall's (Remarkable Card code 9033)
• Greatergood.com
• iGive.com
• Bookpeople.com

One more way you can help is by purchasing one or more raffle tickets. The raffle is for two roundtrip tickets on Southwest Airlines, and the tickets are $5 each or $20 for 5. Call 414-0472 to find out how to get your raffle tickets.

This site was last updated on 1/04/2005.

Copyright © GENaustin, Inc. 2001. All rights reserved. GEN, GENaustin, and GENaustin logos used and displayed herein are registered and unregistered trademarks of GENaustin, Inc. All other trademarks, service marks and logos used herein are the property of their respective owners. Email us at office@genaustin.org.