University of Colorado Denver is First in Denver to Partner with Organization That Supports Girls at Critical Time

The University of Colorado Denver's College of Liberal Arts and Sciences on the downtown Denver campus is proud to become the first higher-education institution in Denver to partner with Smart-Girl, a non-profit, research-based organization that focuses on enrichment and prevention programs for mainly middle school girls ages 11 to 14. Together, UC Denver and Smart-Girl have formed a partnership to offer the Smart-Girl Leadership Training Course, as well as internship opportunities.

This past fall, Mary Coussons-Read, PhD, associate professor of psychology at UC Denver, was the instructor of record for both the 2 credit Leadership Training Course and the 3 credit Facilitation Course. Dr. Coussons-Read has been the key player in establishing the partnership between Smart-Girl and UC Denver.

Through the leadership training, high school and college students learn leadership, facilitation and management of the program; these students then lead small groups of younger girls in activities that focus on team-building, refusal and anti-bullying skills, mood management, overcoming peer pressure, self respect, motivation for success, conflict resolution and other burgeoning concerns specific to these young women.

Five UC Denver students have gone through the 2 credit Leadership Training Course and two UC Denver students are currently taking the 3 credit facilitation course. During the course of the academic year, these college students will mentor 16 Lincoln High School girls who will in turn become Smart-Girl Guides for all of the 7 th grade female students at Kepner Middle School, the largest middle school in DPS, as well as girls enrolled through the Boys and Girls Clubs of Metro Denver. All 7th grade girls enrolled at Kepner will attend the Smart-Girl program once per week during their 8th period elective. The program will run over the course of the school year serving over 140 girls.

"The UC Denver Smart-Girl partnership creates the supportive communities that are necessary for good decision-making, and provides adolescent girls with the tools that will help them become the confident, capable and self-reliant women they deserve to be," said Sameen Noorulamin, director of programs at Smart-Girl, Inc.

For more information on the UC Denver Smart-Girl Leadership Training or the Smart-Girl program, or to support the leadership and community outreach goals of the program, please visit the Web sites.