Every time I’m in conversation with someone and I mention working with adolescent girls through YWCA, their response is, “What a tough age for girls!” While this seems to be the consensus, I’m not sure the public realizes just how tough it actually is.
YWCA of Olympia works with 500 girls, ages 11 to 18, each year. We partner with nearly 20 schools across all county school districts. Regardless of location, the general experience of being a girl in middle or high school is what I would describe as a “dark cloud.”
The most recent data from the Washington Healthy Youth Survey was just released. HYS is administered every few years and collects data from students in sixth through 12th grades across the state.
I was shocked by the results of the survey, especially regarding what it tells us about the health and well-being of girls in our county.
[For more of this story, written by Hillary Soens, go to http://www.bellinghamherald.com/2015/04/21/4250769_youth-survey-reveals-dark-cloud.html?rh=1]
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