Undoubtedly, the COVID-19 pandemic impacted the global world. Specifically, the pandemic resulted in the isoaltion of girls from their peers and educators. Therefore OGAV adapted quickly to implement virtual avenues in our programs.
As we emerge from the pandemic, we have created initiatives with a mix of online and in-person activities to ensure we are continually meeting the digital equity gap that has intensified with the pandemic.
Spring Event (Mother Daughter Event – Young Women’s leadership workshop)
The goal of this workshop is to focus on building relationships to foster better academic achievements and social skills with the girls while ensuring that the girls who participate are equipped with better leadership skills to become global leaders of our society. This event is a celebration of International women’s day, fulfilling our mission to empower girls and young women and mentorship.
Annual Fall Event – Career Exploration
Our Fall Event prepares girls for careers in the 21st century global economy by enabling them to connect with and get mentorship for professionals in various professional areas, including STEM, which is a key area of focus for OGAV.
Girls are empowered with knowledge and are exposed to the different opportunities available to them in the community.
Empowerment Learning Series – Weekly Virtual Hangout Program
The goal of this program is to nurture and empower girls, using a holistic approach, to become independent leading young women in the society and in turn impact the community through the above initiatives.
This program was created with our goal in mind. A program that is student-oriented and focused. This will give the students a dynamic opportunity to be groomed into independent, responsible members of the community through character education, career guidance, skill development/ acquisition, academic success, life coaching and leadership development.
As a result, the girls will develop:
- Positive self-image, confidence, resulting in improved self-esteem
- Increase effective communication and social skills
- Higher order thinking that leads to excellence and fosters a sense of empowerment
- Broad range of academic, social and emotional skills to equip them for success
- Mentorship skills
We value each and every girl as a valuable, respectable part of the community that needs to be nurtured and mentored.
“Strive not to be a success but rather to be a value”- Albert Einstein.
Our volunteering team holds weekly meetings from September to June (we are off in the summers to align with youth summer holidays) every Friday via zoom where the mentors come together and lead sessions discussing various important topics and creating a safe space for discussion. A broad range of topics has been covered in the sessions including health and nutrition, self-care, social-media use, goal-management, mental health and wellness, social issues like the BLM movement, and many more!
Some of the screenshots from session presentations and a video clip are shown below.
STEM for Girls (STEM School Club and STEM Summer Camp)
In line with OGAV’s mission to nurture responsible, independent, and knowledgeable girls of society, we highly believe in the promotion of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) among our participants.
Currently, the ratio of male to female in the STEM fields is 5 to 1, indicating a significant underrepresentation of women in STEM. To combat this problem, OGAV plans to promote and encourage STEM education among girls through our two initiatives, STEM School Clubs and STEM Summer Camp.
STEM for Girls initiative mission: To help bridge the digital gender equity gap in education to create inclusion and opportunity for girls.
In our STEM for Girls initiative, we hold Information and Communications Technology (ICT) activities, such as webinars and hands-on learning, to develop confidence and interest in ICT activities in young girls. The two areas part of our STEM initiative consist of:
- STEM School Clubs
- STEM Summer Camp
As the STEM for Girls initiative requires costly equipment and activities, the budget is a lot more extensive to ensure that OGAV has the funds to reach their target population.
STEM School Club
OGAV operates in-person school clubs in association with public schools with a focus on STEM. Based on our community surveying research, we have found the girls and their families to get more hands-on learning in STEM fields, in addition to transferrable skills in their STEM courses.
With this goal in mind, OGAV has created STEM School Clubs for girls to get an opportunity to get knowledge in both. To achieve this, we have introduced applied learning, such as ICT activities, science experiments, and applying knowledge in real-life through club activities.
STEM Summer Camp
Starting in the summer of 2023, OGAV hopes to operate a customized STEM camp with engaging activities planned for the growth of our youth girl members.
Scholarship Program
We provide scholarships for secondary school girls as they transition to post-secondary destinations. As OGAV develops and economic power increases, we hope to expand our scholarship program to include STEM undergraduate students and post-graduate STEM student scholarships as part of our growth.