Our 2010 Women of Excellence breakfast will take place on Thursday, November 4th at 7:30 a.m at the Harvard Club in Boston. It is a favorite event of many in our Germaine Lawrence community because it is a inspiring program that celebrates the extraordinary and diverse efforts of other individuals and organizations who share in our mission of helping troubled girls.

Click here to submit nominations for Women for Excellence and Rising Stars

Please send us your ideas of women in the Greater Boston area who have made significant contributions to the welfare of adolescent girls in need.  Women of Excellence have included doctors, clergy, social workers, business women, people in the criminal justice field, athletes, philanthropists, community organizers and others.

Click here to see a list of past honorees.

We hope you will join us at this year's Women of Excellence Breakfast! For more information, contact Nyasha Pfukwa, 781-859-1220.

GL opens only all-girls therapeutic day school in Massachusetts

This spring, Germaine Lawrence received approval to operate a day school program.

We now offer the only Massachusetts state-approved special education day school program exclusively for girls.

Our program is clinically intensive and designed for adolescent girls in grades 7 through 12 who require a highly structured program with special therapeutic and academic supports.

Students start their day with a morning meeting. One of our supervisors meets the students, discusses their prior evening, and walks them to their classroom. Our classes are small, and our curriculum is based on the Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks. We supplement our core academic classes with art, physical education and life skills classes. In many ways throughout the day, teachers help students set goals, improve cognitive functioning, monitor their behavior and adapt to changing situations.

Helping students develop social skills is a key part of our school program. Students receive instruction in daily living skills including nutrition, time management and self-advocacy. After school, students take part in our gardening club, art, and sports teams. We also provide homework help and tutoring.

Our teachers stay in close contact with parents, sometimes talking with them three or four times each week. Parents have reported that their daughters feel challenged and that our small class sizes and all-girl environment enable their daughters to develop new friendships and take appropriate risks.

Inch by Inch, Row by Row

Germaine Lawrence Garden Club

Over the past two year's Germaine Lawrence's Garden Club has taken root. Science teacher Colleen Kelly gives extensive lessons in her class about growing seeds while our art teacher, Colleen Breur, designs the plot with a mix of textures and raised beds. Mostly though, teachers and students roll up their sleeves and get to work!

Last year students nurtured a vegetable garden. This year, we added a flower bed and are planning a raised bed for a texture garden. Plantings will include lamb's ear, prickly plants and a whole range in between for the girls to be able to touch.

The students report that they find the tasks involved in gardening therapeutic. One student said that gardening helps her clear her mind and get into a quiet space. In addition, she likes the close up view of nature. She didn't hesitate to add that spending extra time with her art teacher is a definite added bonus!

What do teenage girls think of digging in the dirt? These girls love it! They don't mind the weeding and have developed a new fascination with insects of all kinds and especially grubs! Some have gotten over an earlier fear of spiders.

Several weeks from now, the veggies will have ripened. The girls plan to set up a farm stand with the hope of generating funds to sustain their garden. Mid-summer girls will enjoy the tomatoes, beans, peppers, squash and peas from our own Germaine Lawrence garden!

Cookie with your "Charlatte?"

Charlatte's is a coffee shop currently held on campus twice a month. Students serve "good coffee and good company" to customers.

A brainchild of a math class in the Addams program, the students had noticed their teacher, Charlotte's love affair with coffee. One of the students observed that with all the money Charlotte spends on coffee, she could open her own coffee shop. Once out there - the idea began to develop. Three students took to the challenge and convinced their math and life skills teachers to find a way to work a coffee shop into their lesson plan. The teachers agreed under the condition that students develop a proper business plan and approach this as a real business.

They chose an eco-friendly approach, and donate a portion of their profits to local charities. The menu includes fair-trade coffee, tea selections and a variety of freshly baked goods. They advertise through posters on campus as well as an email list. Their pink color scheme is influenced by Charlotte's love of the color.

Every other Friday morning between 9:30 and 11:30am Charlatte's sets up in one of our conference rooms brewing and serving coffee to their ever increasing staff customers. People rush in for a quick cup of coffee or they sit and chat with the dynamic group of students who are proud to show their professional skills. Once in a while the students give a sales pitch to promote the sale of their newly designed t-shirts. Pink in color with the Charlatte's logo on the back, the shirts have been a hot commodity on campus.

This summer they are hoping to complete the design for their official Charlatte' coffee mug. In the mean time, customers who show up with their own mug receive a discount.

Their goal is to open a coffee shop off campus that will not only provide the local community with a "cool" place to hang out but, according to one student, "support girls at Germaine Lawrence in their recoveries, as a place to get a job, learn responsibility, and get involved as a positive member of the community". She went on to state that their values are: "empowering youth, community sustainability, and - of course - good coffee."

Summer Program offers fun and lessons

Making a difference at Germaine Lawrence

If you were given an unlimited budget to open a Museum about you, what would you want visitors to learn?  This is among one of the many questions that 40 girls at Germaine Lawrence will attempt to answer this summer as they take part in our summer program.

We have designed a special summer program for Germaine Lawrence students who attend public school to provide them with a fun, educational, structured and safe summer.  The focus of this program is to help the girls build self esteem by giving them opportunities to learn, do well, have fun and give back to the community.

The summer program team, with input from the girls, have come up with interesting themes for each week to stimulate students' creativity and explore different ways to have fun.  Themes to be explored are Nature, International, Water, Animals, Sports, Hollywood and Museum of Me.  The tireless team has woven together an intricate mix of activities, day trips, art, music, and food.  The activities include: a day at Indian Meadow Farm, water balloon battles, kayaking on the Charles, arts and crafts, sports, hiking trips, picnics, berry picking and making jam - provided they find a volunteer who can teach them how. 

They are still looking for opportunities to add to the program.  If you are interested in helping the summer program by volunteering or providing them with contacts, please click here for the summer schedule and wish list. 

Thank you for supporting germaine Lawrence's 30th anniversary dinner and auction

We were very moved by the heartfelt response to our annual spring fundraiser. The program featured new videos by longtime volunteer Andy Takats profiling students from each of the last two decades. Their stories were presented in an honest and forthright way.

An alumna from the 1980's gave a speech in which she talked openly about the obstacles she faced as a young girl and how she managed, with the help of Germaine Lawrence, to create a healthier path.

Finally, we raised over $250,000, enabling us to move into the summer with a schedule filled with interesting activities for the many GL students who do not attend school during those months.

Please mark your calendars for next year’s Spring Event on April 3, 2011 -- it promises to be memorable!

Click here to read our alumna's speech.

Click here to view photos from the event.

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