Amidst the giggling laughter and the restless fidgeting, a small group of girls at Gravenhurst Public School are getting a unique opportunity because of a YWCA program.

Girlz Unplugged runs every lunch period once a week in the school’s library and is a school-based, self-esteem and confidence-building program for girls aged nine to 14 (Grades 5 - 8).

Offered to all elementary schools in Muskoka, including an Emsdale school, the YWCA sponsors and organizes the program that educates girls about the exploration of sensitive issues such as relationships, personal safety, body image and peer pressure.

Program co-ordinator Hannah Lin believes in this program for the benefits it provides young girls during the most formative years of their life.

She said one of the main strengths this program permits is recognition of their talents, a chance to gain greater self-confidence and awareness, and it creates a peer support group.

Lin, who started as a facilitator, is in her third year with the YWCA and now co-ordinates the program.

“It’s really important for them at this age because we are so inundated with images of what girls should be and what women should be and how we should act,” she said. “This is the age when they are thinking about boys and when puberty is kicking in and hormones are racing. They need a sense of who they are and what they can be.”

Gravenhurst Public School principal Susan Love has been working at the school for seven years and has always endorsed the program.

“This is just one more way to be able to provide another alternative for girls to speak openly and freely and not feel like they’re going to be ostracized or put down,” she said.

She added many girls who have the potential to be a bully or be bullied often benefit from the program. When the same junior girls reach the senior grades, she has noticed the difference.

“It’s one program that I will always support,” she said.