Donna Piscitelli and Debbie Lorenzo were concerned about the way womanhood was defined by the media. As the director of Student Services and Subschool 5 teacher for Mount Vernon High School (MVHS) respectively, they started talking with some of counselors.
“We were trying to figure out how we get them [high school girls] to understand that they, as young women, are talented, beautiful and creative?” Piscitelli said. “Out of that came a discussion about doing a workshop on women’s issues.”
From there, the subschool counselors recommended students to form the core group and they started planning a workshop. Representing the 12th grade is Eboni Blake; 11th grade- Brittany Amerau, Falom Fitzgerald Jimenez and Shayla Schaffer; 10th grade - Octavia Moore and Courtney Banks; and 9th grade - Abigail Agha and Jamie Guzman.
“These young women are the driving force,” Piscitelli said.
They started talking about the topics that they wanted to cover. One of the girls wanted to know more about etiquette; another about health and wellness. After a series of meetings, they came up with a pretty comprehensive program. It’s titled “Beauty Comes From Within.”
“Once we started talking, it took on a life of its own,” Piscitelli said.
The forum will be held at MVHS on Saturday, April 2. Registration forms are available at all the following high schools: Edison, Lee, West Potomac, Hayfield and Mount Vernon and will soon be available online at the MVHS Web site (www.fcps.edu/MTVernonHS) . Registration will begin at 9 a.m. and then the keynote speaker (still to be announced) will speak until 10 a.m. There will then be four different breakout sessions, lasting until 3 p.m. Lunch, which is being funded by the Mount Vernon Rotary Club, Knights of Columbus, PTSA, Mount Vernon Athletic Boosters and parents, will be provided for all participants. Speakers come from all over and provide a wide breadth of backgrounds and experience.
Banks said that she’s excited about the workshop title “Can We Talk?” while Amerau is looking forward to the one about “Women in Media.”
“Everything you see on TV isn’t real,” Amerau said.
“We’re hoping that there’s something for everybody,” Piscitelli said.
What do the girls hope will come of the workshop? Moore wants to “help girls become women.”
“We’d like to see these workshops held countywide,” Piscitelli said.
OVER AT WEST POTOMAC, members of the PTSA were looking for a way to talk about how to channel the diversity at West Potomac. WPPTSA President Diane Brody had heard Eileen Kugler speak and suggested that the PTSA host an evening with her. Kugler wrote the book, “Debunking the Middle Class Myth ... Why Diverse Schools are Good for All Kids,” based on her children’s experiences at Annandale High School. Speaking at the SOL Expo that was held this past weekend, she explains how her children attended Annandale High School as it struggled with a changing population. She offered the school her services as a communications consultant and was caught up in an evolution that led to a much more tolerant and understanding population and brought together parents and students of all races.
“It led me to believe in the strength of the parent model,” said Kugler, who is still involved in the school, even though her children have graduated.
Kugler will talk about her journey and how her experiences led her to believe that diversity is a good thing for schools.
“The strength of a diverse school is that students learn from each other,” Kugler said. “You learn from their different life experiences and their different world views.”
And this is what Brody and others are hoping to achieve at West Potomac, whose students are very diverse.
As an added treat, several ethnic restaurants will offer samples of their cuisine at a tasting that will be held before the presentation. Join them for this event that will be held at West Potomac’s Springbank Auditorium, 6500 Quander Road, on Thursday, March 31. Ethnic food sampling will begin at 7 p.m.; the presentation will start at 7:30. For more information, call 703-718-2500.