Imagine, if you can, 400 third through fifth-grade girls and their 300 college mentors. Now put them all in a gymnasium, and add workshops and activities being led in surrounding classrooms. Throw in a few guest speakers, a DJ or other musical guest, and some jump ropes, and you’re seeing the organized chaos we at Strong Women, Strong Girls refer to as Jump Into Spring!
This past Saturday, April 9th, both Boston and Pittsburgh held the event simultaneously!
Some Strong Girls pose for a picture at Jump Into Spring in Pittsburgh
Girls await instruction for their next workshop at Jump Into Spring in Boston
Boston’s Jump Into Spring was held this year at UP Academy Dorchester. The girls arrived, bright-eyed and bushy tailed, between 9:30am and 10:00am, running through our cheer line!
At the same time, girls from all over Pittsburgh were doing the same thing! While our cheer lines look marginally different, the feeling they inspire in the girls and their mentors is universal: it’s a feeling of strength, solidarity, sisterhood, and empowerment!
Pittsburgh’s Cheer Line prepares for their girls to come running through to Jump Into Spring!
A girl comes through the Pittsburgh Cheer Line with one of her College Mentors at Jump Into Spring
Throughout the day, girls and mentors in both cities participated in activities like gardening, (PGH workshop), soccer, (PGH activity), and of course, Jump Roping!
A girl at Boston’s JIS jumps rope!
Girls in Boston play soccer with the Wentworth Institute of Technology’s Women’s Soccer Team
Community Partners in PGH engage our Strong Girls in a skill sorting competition.
Strong Girl jumps for joy at Pittsburgh Jump into Spring.
To top it all off, neither event could be complete until we all did one.. Big… CHEER!