July 25, 2011
NYC MIDDLE SCHOOL GIRLS COME TO
MISSOURI WOMEN’S COLLEGE TO MAKE FILMS
COLUMBIA, Mo. – Eight girls from NYC’s Girls Prep Middle School will experience college life through participating in a film camp this summer. It’s a pilot program between this charter school and Stephens College that serves low-income minority students. The camp runs Sunday, July 24, through Saturday, July 30.
In addition to hands-on filming and editing activities, the rising 5th-7th graders will also ride at Stephens’ Stables, live and eat on campus, attend a college course, and explore Columbia, Missouri. Their work will culminate in a film showcase on Friday evening.
Stephens’ President Dianne Lynch and Public Prep’s CEO Ian Rowe realized their schools shared many of the same values and goals: transforming the lives of young women. Public Prep, which launched in 2008, is comprised of three tuition-free all-girls charter schools with open enrollment.
Stephens’ intent is to help these girls (1) consider themselves college-bound, (2) to imagine themselves living on a college campus, and (3) to develop confidence in their ability to come to a new place, meet new people, and have experiences -- from filmmaking to horseback riding -- that they've never had before.
It’s also the College’s goal to instill in these girls that there are valuable communities and experiences beyond New York, that the world is an enormous and exciting place, and that adventures await them wherever they go.
The film camp follows a similar and successful Citizen Jane Film Academy that Stephens College held in conjunction with Columbia Public Schools for the first time this summer. More information (and two short films that students produced) may be found here.
Stephens College, established in 1833, is historically committed to meeting the changing needs of women. Stephens prepares students to become leaders and innovators in a rapidly changing world, and engages lifelong learners in an educational experience characterized by intellectual rigor, creative expression and professional practice.
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