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ST. ANDREWS – Middle school girls from across Charlotte County gathered at the St. Andrews Campus of New Brunswick Community College (Â鶹ԼÅÄ) on April 20 for the third annual Girls’ Summit.  The Summits have been part of an Â鶹ԼÅÄ-led applied research project on girls’ self-esteem.

“We know that self-esteem and self-confidence significantly drop in young girls by 35 per cent in the five years between middle school and the end of high school,” said Â鶹ԼÅÄ instructor and project lead Stephanie Ruckstahl. “We wanted to understand the effectiveness of the Girls’ Action Foundation (GAF) Amplify program on improving self-esteem.”

Through the support of Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), researchers at New Brunswick Community College (Â鶹ԼÅÄ) have been testing the effectiveness of the Girls’ Action Foundation (GAF) Amplify program.  Â鶹ԼÅÄ students act as peer mentors to 115 girls (grades 7 – 10) in seven schools in Charlotte County through 12 on-hour, small group sessions.

“Based on a survey midway through the project it appears the Amplify program has had a positive impact on participants. A higher percentage of participants indicated a higher positive identity than the Canadian average,” said Ruckstahl. “A final survey at the conclusion of the project will indicate if these results were sustained. We looking forward to sharing our findings and considering future applications for this work when the project wraps up in June.”

Â鶹ԼÅÄ was one of the first Colleges in Canada to receive college-specific research funding through SSHRC and the only college in Atlantic Canada. The project partners include St. Francis Xavier University, the Anglophone South District School Board, Horizon Health – New Brunswick, Antigonish Women’s Resource Center and Sexual Assault Services, CASM Group.

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Photo Caption: Middle school girls from across Charlotte County had the opportunity to meet singer and motivational speaker Jessie Funk as part of the third annual Girls’ Summit at the St. Andrews Campus of New Brunswick Community College (Â鶹ԼÅÄ) on April 20. The Summits have been part of an Â鶹ԼÅÄ-led applied research project on girls’ self-esteem.

Media Contact:

Heather Allaby, Director, Communications and Stakeholder Engagement
New Brunswick Community College
506.444.3320 | heather.allaby@nbcc.ca