Girls to Girls members make global

connections

By Grace Haskins, Reporter

Girls to Girls is a nonprofit organization under the umbrella company of Seavuria. They partner with schools in Kenya, build relationships with scholarship recipients, and raise money to fund education for Kenyan girls. In Kenya, it is typically the girls’ responsibility to take care of their siblings or the house; if there is money in the family to send the children to school, the boy’s education is the priority.

Senior Arianna Vickers is the co-president of Girls to Girls and has been a member since last year, she loves being a part of the club and connecting with the girls in Kenya.

“I just fell in love with the impact that we’ve made on girls in Kenya … We want to make sure there is an option for girls to go to school. That way they can break the cycle of poverty they are in and hopefully break that stereotype that only boys get to go to school,” Vickers said.

The club holds many fundraisers every year; there are usually several small ones and then one main one annually.

“We did a bake sale earlier this school year and we raised the most money we ever have at a bake sale; it was extremely successful,” Vickers said.

Girls to Girls has two online fundraisers coming up, they will be on Dec. 4 at 4 p.m. and Dec. 9 at 7 p.m. The goal of this event is to raise money through sharing information about the club, a video from their scholarship coordinator in Kenya. They will also be able to talk with possible donors from all around the world.

“This [fundraiser] is where we raise the majority of our money. We fundraise throughout the year and have small fundraisers, but this is the big annual fundraiser,” junior Clementine Gripman Whistler, a member of Girls to Girls, said.

The Girls to Girls members recognize the club as a great opportunity to make a big impact on other people and be a part of a movement that will change the lives of many students.

“My favorite part of being in the club is probably the connections you make. You meet a lot of people within the club that you never would have met at VHS or on the island [otherwise],” Gripman Whistler said. “Then [there are] the connections you make with people in Kenya, who you never would have met [besides] through Girls to Girls. It’s awesome to become friends with the scholarship recipients.”

Vickers reflected on the video calls, a very fun aspect of the club where they to lots of fun activities with the scholarship recipients and get to know them.

“My favorite part of being in the club is probably the video calls. My favorite video call was last year; we got to meet with our scholarship recipients and our theme was dance, so they showed us some of their dance moves, and we got to teach them some of ours,” she said, “It was really fun and there was lots of laughing, and we got to build this really great bond, which is something I will never forget.”