The National Council of Negro Women began a new mentoring program at Central High School this semester for young women with the aim to help them develop a variety of skills.

“The goal is to educate the students and help them promote academic success and also provide social skills for the students,” said Vanjessitha Wilkinson, the Central High School social worker. “Helping them with conflict resolution, also helping them to have positive self-esteem.”

De’Anna Trunnell, the mentoring chair for the NCNW at The University of Alabama, reached out to Wilkinson about starting the program last semester. Because of time constraints, she decided to postpone the program’s start-up until this semester.

“She came and spoke with me last year. She wanted to start the program last semester. However, it was the end of the semester, so she decided to wait until February,” Wilkinson said.

Trunnell decided to begin the program at Central High School because of its proximity to the University. She also saw a need for a mentoring program within the Central High community, she said.

“We knew that those girls in the school really needed great role models in their lives,” Trunnell said.

The NCNW mentoring program helps participants by equipping them with strong academic and social skills. These skills are developed to help them in their immediate lives as well as to prepare them for the future.

“It gives the students a chance to interact with college women and to hear more about what college has to offer and also gives them that connection and support if they want to continue their education,” Wilkinson said.

Wilkinson says whether they choose to continue their education or not, the mentoring program helps them develop the social skills they will need to be successful.

“Whether or not they attend college or they want to go into the military or get a job, they are able to gain some social skills by the mentoring group,” Wilkinson said.

In addition to helping the girls through mentoring, Trunnell wants to help promote changes within the school system, which she believes will help benefit the students.

“We are planning on going to the school board and sitting in on meetings, because there are high incidences of pregnancy in the school, and sex cannot be talked about at all, by us or any administrator,” Trunnell said.

Their goal is to make it possible for students to have conversations about sex.

“We would like to go to a school board meeting to talk to them about that and try to get a law passed to where they can talk about sex and sex education in schools,” Trunnell said.

While the program has only been active since February, Wilkinson has already received positive feedback about the effects the program is having on the young women involved.

“We’ve already received comments from the parents where they’ve noticed some positive changes in their daughters from attending the program,” Wilkinson said.

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