She’s the First*{Campus}

Pizza Parties for the She’s the First*{Campus} All-Stars!

We told you a few months ago about the winners of the Fall 2011 Campus Awards…the She’s the First chapters at Hofstra, Northwood High, and the University of Notre Dame. Now that the spring semester is coming to a close, our campus chapters are again ready to apply for the title of “Most Creative,” “Most Social,” or “Most Financially Successful” chapter. Before those results are in, let’s took a look at what last semester’s winners did with their prize–a pizza party for their whole chapter!

She’s the First*{Hofstra} was the Most Social winner for their awesome use of Twitter, Facebook, and social media during November’s Tie-Dye Cupcake Bake-Off. At their party, the members put their heads together to brainstorm future fundraisers, and fueled by pizza, that meeting was where they came up with their ideas for the rest of the semester. Chapter president Chelsea Tirrell told us “Having the pizza party was a small way of reminding us what happens when work hard. A reward is always present. Whether it’s materialistic (like pizza), or not (like being able to sponsor five girls), hard work never goes unnoticed.”

The Notre Dame team enjoying pizza during a weekly meeting.

Our Most Financially Successful winner, She’s the First*{Notre Dame}, that raised over $1000 during the fall semester to re-sponsor three girls in Nepal, held their pizza party during their weekly meeting. Says graduating officers Casey Kraft and Monica Townsend, “The pizza party was a great way to celebrate after the hard work of fundraising was over. It’s nice to be recognized–by She’s the First and by Notre Dame: we raised the most money of any first year club on campus this year!”

Finally, Imam Siddiqi, co-president of She’s the First*{Northwood High}, our Most Creative winner said, “I have to say that our club was really excited to be recognized as the most creative club. Making cake pops for bake sales and New Year cards for girls at the Kisa Project was loads of fun and for a great cause, but earning an amazing California Pizza Kitchen pizza party for our efforts made it even more rewarding! Members have become more motivated to keep our title :) ”

There you have it, hard work that pays off in a delicious way! Good luck to all of our chapters in the next Campus Awards, coming soon!

Interested in She’s the First*{Campus} or starting a chapter at your school? Email campus@shesthefirst.org or fill out the application here: http://www.shesthefirst.org/category/projects/shes-the-first-campus/

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Inspiration for Your Open Mic Night at School

by Amanda Kennedy, @msamandakennedy, Founder of She’s the First*{Bryn Mawr}

She’s the First*{Bryn Mawr} (@shesthefirstBMC) is one of the newest campus chapters, founded this spring 2012 semester! We are located just west of Philadelphia, PA. I wanted our first big event to tie into the Voice Your Verse campaign, so our chapter began to imagine a She’s the First*{Bryn Mawr} Open Mic Night, but not just any open mic night…the best open mic night EVER! Our idea inspired this guide so that you can host one, too!

Feel free to use as many of these ideas as you’d like, or create your own!

FIND A PARTNER
We teamed up with another club on campus with a similar mission, Project Educate in Africa, since they are well established and know the ropes of putting on a large event.

PICK A PLACE & DATE
We reserved a lovely, large space in Thomas Great Hall, inside a building that looks like a castle (we even had an elaborate Harry Potter-themed end-of-year feast here, no joke).

DECIDE YOUR FORMAT

  • We decided to incorporate poetry readings from students, faculty, and administration into the evening, both of their own creation and from the She’s the First anthology, which will be released in April.
  • We also hope to invite students from two public all-girls high schools in Philadelphia to attend and read poems, as a way of establishing a mentoring relationship with them.

FIGURE OUT HOW TO RAISE MONEY

  • Students from the Tri-College Community (Bryn Mawr, Haverford, Swarthmore) and members of the outside community will come free-of-charge to increase audience size, but we will also encourage donations.
  • An array of cupcakes will be on sale, and multiple kiosks will allow attendees to log on to purchase the She’s the First Poetry Anthology online.

SEE IF YOU CAN GET FUNDING

  • We created a budget and then applied for funding from two large student groups on campus
  • To reduce cost, don’t forget that you can reach out to local businesses to donate food, supplies, or door prizes.

ADD FLAIR!

  • Delicious food from a local restaurant will fill the bellies of our audience members before poetry readings begin
  • She’s the First Founder/President Tammy Tibbetts, located not too far away in New York City, will be our guest speaker!

SPREAD THE WORD
We will advertise in our campus newspaper, the alumnae newsletter, our local Patch.com and a local magazine. We’ll send out plenty of tweets and Facebook notifications! We’ll create fliers, posters, and “table tents” (for our dining halls). Sidewalk chalk will also be involved!

Have your own ideas? Tweet them to @shesthefirst — we’ll RT them for all to see!

Posted in Bryn Mawr, Voice Your Verse | 1 Comment

Announcing the First Ever Campus Award Winners!

This year was bigger and better than ever for She’s the First*{Campus} as we ushered in many new chapters, increasing our total number of campus chapters to 21 and getting our name out to colleges and high schools across the country. We were blown away by the creativity, dedication, and enthusiasm that our campus chapters demonstrated during the Fall 2011 semester, particularly during the National Tie-Dye Cupcake Bake-Off. To honor their accomplishments, the new Campus Leadership team for She’s the First voted on the recipients of the first ever Campus Awards. And the winners are….

Northwood High made cards for sponsored girls!

Most Creative: Northwood High, from Irvine, CA, led by Chapter President Maryam Khan. She’s the First*{Northwood High} held an event where club members signed Holiday cards to send to the sponsored girls at She’s the First partner schools with a matching bracelet connecting them to their “sister” in the U.S. that has one too! The chapter also sold “cake pops” as a spin off the signature STF tie-dye cupcake bake sales.

Most Social: Hofstra University in Hempstead, NY, led by Chapter President Chelsea Tirrell. She’s the First*{Hofstra} used social media in creative ways to increase awareness in the student body about She’s the First and the activities Hofstra hosted. Nowhere was this more evident than during the Tie-Dye Cupcake Bake-Off when She’s the First*{Hofstra} Tweeted a countdown of the number of cupcakes that still needed to be sold to sponsor a girl at Kopila Valley School in Nepal.  They reached their goal…and then doubled it, sending TWO girls to school!

Most Financially Successful: University of Notre Dame in South Bend, IN, led by Casey Kraft, Monica Townsend and Lindsay Brown. She’s the First*{Notre Dame} raised $1092 this year to renew their sponsorship of three girls at Kopila Valley School in Nepal. The remaining funds were donated to Shanti Bhavan in India in collaboration with other groups from the Tie-Dye Cupcake Bake-Off. The money was raised through many tie-dye cupcake bake sales, cupcake “grams” that students could have delivered to a friend’s dorm room, and even a cupcake eating contest!

Events like this cupcake eating contest helped She's the First*{Notre Dame} raise over $1000 and win Most Financially Successful!

So there you have it, from New York to Indiana to California, our campus chapters are spreading STF all over the country, one cupcake at a time. The winners will receive honorary logos stating their award to decorate their social media pages as well as a pizza party for the members of their chapter. We can’t wait to see what the Spring 2012 semester will bring—look for the next round of Campus Award Winners in June!

Interested in creating a chapter of She’s the First at your school? Fill out our application here.

Questions? Contact campus@shesthefirst.org

 

Posted in Hofstra University, Northwood High, Notre Dame | Tagged | Leave a comment

The Skype Call I’ll Never Forget

Chelsea Tirrell is president of She’s the First*{Hofstra}, which recently raised $600 to sponsor girls in the Tie-Dye Cupcake Bake-Off.

On Thursday, December 1st, She’s the First*{Hofstra} had our very first experience Skyping with some of our sponsored girls in India and, simply put, it was amazing.

Chelsea Tirrell leads her campus chapter in a Skype call with Shanti Bhavan girls in India!

As president of our chapter, I wanted to do something special for my members after a semester filled with hard work. When I needed someone to fill in an atrium table slot, someone was there. When I needed meeting attendance to be prompt and plentiful, everyone was there. When I needed to bake over 600 cupcakes, everyone was there. Their passion and dedication hadn’t gone unnoticed and it’s their loyalty to this cause that lead our chapter to such success this year. For that, I knew they needed a reward. They needed a meeting that wasn’t a meeting but rather, an opportunity for them to see what all of their hard work had gone toward. And with that, I reached out to Christen Brandt who connected me with Brianne Riviello. Together, we put together STF*{Hofstra}’s notably awesome Skype chat with India.

We connected with four girls from the Shanti Bhavan school in India with the help of their coordinator, Rahil. Once we got the camera and audio to finally work, we were welcomed by Vijayalakshmi (Viji) in 9th grade, Sujatha in 10th grade, Pratibha in 11th grade and Maheshwari (Mahesh) in 12th grade. I couldn’t tell who was more excited to speak with who, but it was an all around session of smiles and laughs.

We learned that they loved Harry Potter and Twilight, that they played basketball and loved to dance, and that they had dreams – some bigger than our own – that were backed by relentless eyes.

These girls were the first females in their families to get an education and we learned why. Some of their mothers couldn’t afford it while others married young and didn’t have the opportunity. But luckily for these girls, they finally had the chance thanks to She’s the First.

These girls are as real as they’re going to get. They’re curious, smart, passionate, and excited to take on the world that’s ahead of them. To have a part in an organization that helps send such amazing girls to school is a bigger honor than most can say they’ve gained.

Raising money is one thing. But when you get up close and personal, it changes the name of the game. The connection we made is one that I will carry with me for the rest of my involvement with She’s the First. And as for my members? It’s a Skype call that changed their prospective on things. It’s given them a desire to be more involved and a greater appreciation for what we have here and what we can give.

Posted in Hofstra University, Shanti Bhavan | Tagged | 1 Comment

STF*{Hofstra} Tie-Dying Cupcakes, Shirts AND Pancakes!

She’s the First*{Hofstra} found creative ways to get the word out about their sale ahead of time! Chapter President Chelsea Tirrell tells us how her team partnered with another student organization to get many students across campus involved in their sale.

Our founding members!

It has just been announced that She’s the First*{Hofstra} is now officially the client of Hoftstra University’s student-run public relations agency, PRestige. It’s come at just the right time. Do you know what this new partnership means? A few extra sets of hands and brains to make the first ever National Tie-Dye Cupcake Bake-Off an immense success.

Though our chapter is looking forward to the donations from Naturally Nora, PRestige is already hard at work looking for donations from local bakeries and shops for goods or even tie-dye pastries of their own.

But their donation-searching doesn’t end there. As an organization, STF*{Hofstra} decided to have a tie-dye event the last week of October in order to launch the bake-off. “FREE” always draws thecrowd so PRestige set out to find t-shirts and tie-dying kits from different franchises.

In the midst of all this, we’ve been getting our club together and splitting them up into four groups – crafting, baking, publicity, and atrium tables. By splitting up the tasks, we’re able to work moreintimately and ultimately reach a successful end point without chaos.
It’s not just our club that’s looking to help the cause, though. After attending a mixer with other community service groups on campus, we were able to get another club, Young Republicans, to help bake. With as many hands as we have, we’re hoping to have copious amounts of cupcakes – and more cupcakes means more donations!

Some of our delicious cupcakes - yum!

We’ve even got a plan to make rainbow pancakes, charging $3 for a short stack and $5 for a tallstack. Tie-dye continues to come full circle and we’re willing to use any measure to help She’s the Firstreach its goal of $20,000.

Our organization has talents all across the board and we’re using them all. Our graphic designers are working on drawing up promotional flyers and design techniques, our publicists aregetting our name out there, and our organizers are working on keeping us above water. We even have drama/dance students who are willing to dress up as a cupcake to draw attention to our table in thestudent center! Together, we’re on the path to great things.

With October already well on it’s way and November just around the corner, it’s time to kick it into full gear. We’ve got our heads on straight and our eyes on the prize – now it’s time to get our feet (and hands!) moving. Ovens, here we come.

Posted in Hofstra University, Tie-Dye Cupcake Bake-Off | Leave a comment

Introducing the She’s the First*{Campus} Awards!

She’s the First*{Campus} is unveiling a new tradition for each end of the semester….CAMPUS AWARDS! These will honor three of the most successful chapters in these categories: Most Creative, Most Financially Successful, and Most Social.

Winners of these awards each semester will be highlighted on our homepage rotator, recognized on She’s the First Facebook page profile pic in the month of January, be featured in The Huffington Post, have a press release sent to their college/university, and receive a “Party in a Box” for your team to celebrate! The chapters will also be given a badge to place on their social media pages to show the world what they’ve accomplished! Each award is based on the criteria listed below:

Most Social:
To the most Twitterific/Facebook-friendly campus chapter of the season! Evaluated based on:

  • The size and/or growth of your social media following
  • The quality of your posts
  • The interaction with your supporters
  • The creativity of how you use social media to achieve your chapter’s goals and tell the stories of sponsored girls

 

Most Financially $uccessful:
This award is given to the chapter that raises the most money from a fundraiser(s) during the semester.

 

 

 

Most Creative:
This is for the chapter that thinks outside the box and shows evidence of leadership development, international impact, and advocacy for girls’ education in a way that WOWS us! You are constantly trying to do something brand-new, set goals and reach them, and have a voice that makes you unmistakably a “first.” Most Creative might be earned by:

  • an offline event you host
  • an off- or online campaign you run
  • innovative ways of attracting new members & engaging meetings/info sessions

 

At the end of the semester, campus chapters will receive a link to an official survey in which campus leaders can submit explanations of their best events, explaining why they think THEIR chapter deserves to win. Photos, videos, and posters from events are welcome additions to impress the judges, a panel from the She’s the First leadership team who will help decide the winner.

We’re very excited to start rolling out these new awards at the end of the semester, and hope to see great things from all of our chapters as they creatively change the world–and get competitive. Ready, set, go!

Interested in starting your own campus chapter of She’s the First at your college or high school? Fill out the application here, or email campus@shesthefirst.org for more info!

Posted in She's the First*{Campus} | Tagged | Leave a comment

Why We’re Baking Our Little Hearts Out

Each week, we’re shining the spotlight on a bake sale team so that they can share their inspiration and ideas for the Tie-Dye Cupcake Bake-Off, a sweet movement to sponsor girls with She’s the First.  Join by signing up to host a fundraising bake sale during November 1-8 at shesthefirst.org/cupcakes!

Maisy in Guatemala

Maisy on her STF360 trip to Starfish One by One in Guatemala

Hello Cupcake Warriors! My name is Maisy Page and I am a graduate student, the Founder/President of She’s the First*{FGCU}, STF Researcher, and leader of the FGCU Tie-Dye Cupcake Bake-Off team!

It’s amazing to watch the growth and progress of this cupcake campaign and hard to believe it was only a year ago that we read the blog posts about the first famous tie-dye cupcakes at Notre Dame!

STF Tie-dye Cupcakes

Our very first attempt at baking the famous tie-dye cupcakes!

Our exec board for She’s the First*{FGCU} is spearheading our sale for November, and these ladies are awesome! Our VP, Emily Kahler, and our Secretary, Stephanie Heath, helped me bake our very first batch of tie-dye cupcakes for our very first STF*{FGCU} meeting! Our cupcakes ended up being not only adorable but delicious also. We made mini-cupcakes for the meeting because we thought that way people could get a bite-size taste of what is to come in November!

At FGCU, we’ve ran into some challenges about actually having our bake sale on campus due to the university’s contract with food vendors, but I feel like this just gave us the opportunity to be a little bit more creative with how we are going to plan, advertise, and get people interested in our bake sale. So, we’re not having a bake sale at all! That’s right, I said, we’re not having a bake sale at all. We are doing the true form of a bake-off! In order to abide with university regulations, we are turning our bake sale into a campus-wide event! We’re still working out the details, but our preliminary thoughts are to use one of the rooms in the student union for competing on-campus organizations to set up their very own cupcake booths. We will then charge admission for people to come to the event and prizes will be awarded for “most creative display,” “most creative cupcakes,” “best tasting cupcakes,” and then an overall winner. We think fostering a little bit of healthy competition amongst our university community is just the right kind of incentive to get people involved.

In the next month, we will be going to other organization’s meetings and chapters to promote the bake-off and get them signed up. I would be remissed if I didn’t mention the constant PR work that our faculty advisor, Dr. Sandra Pavelka, has been doing. Dr. Pavelka, or as we lovingly call her, “Dr. P,” has been behind me 150% since I decided to start She’s the First*{FGCU} and has been tirelessly recruiting people to join the organization and the bake-off.

Through the fun of enjoying the company of our friends while baking, to deciding which color neon sprinkles to use on the tops of our multi-colored bites of scrumptiousness, we haven’t forgot why we’re doing this. Our cupcakes are creating change. Our cupcakes can send a girl to school, and for this reason, we bake our little hearts out.

Posted in Florida Gulf Coast University, Tie-Dye Cupcake Bake-Off | Tagged , | 1 Comment

How a Cupcake Changed My Life — and Hers

the original poster!

I have a bright pink poster hanging in my Notre Dame dorm room that reads “She’s the First: Tie-Dye Cupcake Sale September 15, 2010 Help us send a girl to school in the developing world!” At the time, little did I know, this “girl” would quickly turn into three, and before I knew it, I’d be on a plane to spend my summer in Nepal.

A few days before I left for my trip to Kopila Valley School, I received a little envelope in the mail. Inside was a crumpled note from one of the girls my Notre Dame soccer team and I sponsor, Hima Tamata.

This is Hima at age 7

The note read, “Dear Lindsay, you are so nice. I love you. Lindsay and Hima are best friends.” To say it made my day would be an understatement. When I made it to Kopila Valley I couldn’t wait to finally meet Hima, the girl I had been following on Maggie Doyne’s blog for months, and tell her how thankful I was for that note. But before I could get a word out, Hima walked up to me and starting singing, “let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.” At first I had no idea what she was referring to considering it was around 90 degrees in Surkhet everyday. Then Hima pulled out the Christmas card that my Notre Dame friends and I sent her back in December. She had saved it in a plastic bag in the front pocket of her backpack. When you open the card it plays a Christmas carol. Hima had memorized the song and had even memorized the note I had written inside. She named each of the girls that had signed the card and asked, “Are these all my friends in America?” Hima’s eyes got so big when I replied yes. All she could say back was “oh ma gawd.”

As I spent more and more time with Hima I began to understand how one little girl could inspire a person like Maggie to build an entire children’s home and school. When I was with Hima I would forget how much she’s been through. She’s such a happy, energetic, carefree young girl. I really don’t think there’s a word to perfectly describe her.

Lindsay and Hima at Kopila Valley School

She still has a long way to go — she’s 12 years old and in the second grade but that doesn’t seem to defeat her in any way.  She has this “silent self-confidence” about her that I believe will get her to the places she wants to go in life.

Above all, Hima has the biggest heart of anyone I know. I gave her a journal the first day we met so we could continue to write notes to each other once I went home. A few days before I left Hima pulled out the journal and gave me 8 notes, one for each of the girls that signed the Christmas card. Each said something like “Dear Maddie, I love you. My name is Hima. I read in 2 class. My mom breaks rock. You are my best friend. Hima loves Maddie.” I read through each of the following notes addressed to Courtney, Melissa, Jordan, and a couple other girls but I stopped when I got to the last one, it read, “Dear Dreams.” I couldn’t figure it out at first but then I realized the last sentence I had written in the card was “Follow your dreams!”

Hima

Hima was confused and thought that “Dreams” was one of her friends in America. I was about to break it to her that “Dreams” really isn’t a person, but then she turned to me and said, “I am so lucky to have 9 friends in America. I work hard in school so one day I come visit and I see Dreams.” After taking a second to think about it, I decided maybe Hima is on to something after all. Right now her friend “Dreams” might not exist, but Hima’s right: If she continues to work hard in school, one day “Dreams” will be true.

Now when I look at that bright pink poster in my dorm I can’t help but smile. I’ve surrounded it with several pictures of happy Kopila girls. I always think about how crazy it is that something as simple as cupcake can make such a profound change in a girl’s life half way around the world. But what I’m starting to realize is that the same cupcake has made such a profound change in my own life. Getting to know Maggie, Hima, and all the other Kopila girls over the past year has shown me that we may be young, but together we really do have the power to make a difference in this big world. That’s what I love about She’s the First — we set out to empower girls around the world without realizing we are empowering ourselves.

Posted in Kopila Valley Children's Home and School, Notre Dame | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments

Extra! Extra! STF Wins Campus Media Group PSA Contest!

When fellow campus coordinator, Casey, and I were brainstorming our goals for She’s the First*{Campus} this summer, we decided to encourage every campus chapter to get published in their college newspaper. After all, how many times do we see students flipping through the school paper in the dining hall, checking out the result of the last sports game, filling out the crossword, or looking for what’s new on campus?

Turns out Campus Media Group was 10 steps ahead of us! Each year, Campus Media Group, “the college marketing experts,” select one non-profit organization with an important message for college students to publicize through a PSA contest. This year’s winner is…drum roll, please…She’s the First!

So what exactly does this mean for She’s the First*{Campus}? Campus Media Group will work with the 1,800 college newspapers that the agency represents, asking them to donate ad space for the She’s the First PSA at least once this year. That exposure in print and online in all the big campus publications is worth an estimated $100,000 in free advertising! She’s the First*{Campus} has been growing fast this year and we KNOW that this publicity will help us explode and reach out to excited college students across the country. We are so honored that Campus Media Group chose us for this opportunity and can’t wait to keep the STF community posted on what our final PSA looks like and the response we get from schools across the country!

Want more information on the Campus Media Group PSA contest? Check out their blog post about it here.

Thinking about starting your own chapter of She’s the First*{Campus} at your college or high school? Apply here! Send any questions to campus@shesthefirst.org.

Congrats, She’s the First, and thank you, Campus Media Group!

 

Posted in She's the First*{Campus} | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Hofstra Student Wins Prestigious Award for Reporting on STF

Post by Elizabeth Weeden

Gracie Allen was a famous radio and television star in the ‘30s and ‘40s. She and her husband George Burns made one of the most successful comedy teams in history. Before Lucille Ball, Betty White or Oprah Winfrey, Gracie, as she was called, became a role model for women in media and entertainment.

Gracie Allen was such a model for women that eventually an award was named after her. Each year the Alliance for Women in the Media (AWM) present Gracie Awards to celebrate and honor programming “created for women, by women and about women.” This past year I was lucky enough to receive a Gracie Award for a story I aired about She’s the First.

In their first semester on campus, I got a chance to sit in on a meeting for Hofstra University’s chapter of She’s The First. I had planned to just report on the new club for Hofstra’s radio station, WRHU-FM. I interviewed the club president at the time Gennifer Delman and I also got in touch with Tammy Tibbets for more of a general STF back-story. The more I learned about She’s the First the more excited I became about writing my story and joining the great organization.

Gracie Award winner Elizabeth Weeden

I was airing the feature on She’s the First for Radio Hofstra University’s soft news show called “Studio South.” I simply wanted to spread the word about an organization I believed deserved acknowledgement both on Hofstra’s campus and in the immediate area. While I knew She’s the First was a great organization, nowhere in my imagination did I think I would be recognized for the story I wrote about it. The feature was just a piece I could have fun with because I felt passionate about the organization and the people who brought it to Hofstra.

Three months later I received an email from one of the deans of the communication school at Hofstra who works on the “Studio South” show with me. She said that she had submitted my story on STF to the Gracie Awards. The Gracie Awards recognize national, local, and student media; given the broad audience, I considered the nomination itself an honor.

Then, one week before I was to leave for my semester study abroad, an email popped up in my inbox with the subject line reading, “YOU WON!!” in all caps. I told myself it was spam so that I wouldn’t get any false hopes, but as my eyes scanned the screen I saw that the email wasn’t spam, it was from my dean. I had actually won a national Gracie Award for students! The story on She’s the First won a Gracie in the Outstanding Soft News Feature category. Apparently the Alliance for Women in the Media was just as impressed by She’s the First’s mission as I was.

This past week I received my award in the mail—I couldn’t attend the gala because I was in Europe—and it’s just as beautiful as the organization behind the story that led to the award. After learning from She’s the First’s great social media initiatives, the first thing I did was tweet a picture of the award. It reads, “2011 Gracie Awards, Soft News Feature, She’s the First.”

When I think about STF’s mission and everything it has done for girls’ education, I can’t help but think that She’s the First is giving girls all over the world the opportunity to go to school, to follow their passions, and maybe someday end up with an award of their own. Thank you, She’s the First. Give yourselves a round of applause, because you all deserve it.

Posted in Hofstra University | Tagged , | 1 Comment

How to Launch a STF Chapter with Great Support

Founding members of She's the First*{Hofstra} -- that's Gen (with postcard) & Chelsea (right) in the middle!

As two Rhode Islanders who moved to New York to pursue interests in magazines, our professional aspirations and love for service have always been intertwined. By participating in both Ed2010 (which is the home to the Hofstra branch of Her Campus) and She’s the First*{Hofstra} (which a group of us founded in 2010), we’ve been able to explore our interests and help make a difference.

When we brought She’s the First*{Hofstra} to campus, we had a vision for success. With everything the organization had already accomplished, we saw big things for our campus chapter. But before we could get started with fundraising efforts and raising awareness, we had to tackle a challenge in and of itself–publicity.

There was a small group of girls who felt passionately about STF but we knew we couldn’t do it alone. We would need supporters and established groups to not only join forces with us, but also show us the ropes of how to make a name for ourselves on a campus with over 170 clubs and organizations.

At our first meeting, we talked about what we hoped to accomplish that year. We decided on a fundraiser, how we were going to direct students’ attention to the organization, and how to recruit members and club sponsors. Among our small group of founders, we had writers who contributed to hercampus.com. Our writers knew exactly what to do—we were going to utilize the site to shed light on our group.

Her Campus is an online magazine but also so much more–it’s a “collegiette’s guide to life.” The site posts stories for college women with topics ranging from Style to Love and Life, all of which are written by top college journalists around the country. Aside from the content on the main site, Her Campus also has campus branches. They’re responsible for posting campus events, trends, and more. Hofstra’s branch knew this would give us the publicity opportunity we were looking for.

It started with an article Chelsea wrote titled “She’s the First–Changing Girls’ Education One Step at a Time.” Before we had even established our own chapter, it was important that we put out the message of the umbrella not-for-profit we were working under. Within the piece, we mentioned our organization and how we would be working closely with the cause. Once the story went live, we were finally on the map.

When we started talking to different organizations about possible co-sponsorships and awareness opportunities and we mentioned our name, many of the responses we got were, “Oh yeah, I think I read about you guys.” Her Campus had finally put a name to an otherwise undefined organization.

From there on out, we use our Her Campus branch to publicize for She’s the First*{Hofstra}. We post photo-blogs about fundraisers and awareness events, such as our campus-wide residential awareness programs and tie-dye cupcake sales.

The site selects articles from campus branches weekly and ranks them in order of reader worthiness and popularity. The first piece we did made it to number one, drawing other branches to our page and thus bringing their attention to She’s the First. With a taste of how we were running things and an idea of how wonderful a cause it was, other campuses felt the urge to hop on the nonprofit bandwagon and start a She’s the First chapter of their own.

Gennifer’s experiences with STF & HC extend beyond campus. When applying to attend the first-ever Women: Inspiration & Enterprise symposium last year, she wrote about her experiences with STF and how eye-opening its vision is. When she was chosen, she represented both organizations, alongside the women she admires like Tammy, STF campaign developer Devin Tomb, and HC founders Stephanie, Annie, and Windsor.

As an editor, Gennifer has encouraged readers to start their own chapters and featured women like Brittany Laughlin and Adejire Bademosi—two WIE young champions she would have never met if it were not for the tie to She’s the First. Earlier this year she also worked with New York Women in Communications scholarship recipient Katie Corrado to compile a list of collegiette™ amazings, who embody what it means to be a first.

Her Campus is not only our platform for campus attention, but also for other campuses nationwide in order to encourage them to join the cause. It’s no wonder why the link between the two is practically invincible – when you give women the opportunity to thrive, no barriers, no obstacles, no challenge, can stand in their way. We urge all collegiette™ STF supporters and aspiring media professionals to start a branch of HC at their university by July 31st: Just head to hercampus.com/my-campus.

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STF*{Hofstra} Girls Rock at Music Fest with Tie-Dye Cupcakes

She's the First*{Hofstra} super stars Chelsea Tirrell, Gennifer Delman and Kaitlin Cubria.

by Kaitlin Cubria

This semester, STF*{Hofstra} members made several collaborative efforts to create awareness and buzz about She’s the First on the Hofstra campus. Between residential housing programs and social media marketing, giveaways and BIG plans for next semester, STF*{Hofstra} became easily recognizable to other on-campus organizations and was able to recruit new members into the STF family.

To end the year with a bang, STF*{Hofstra} Founding President Gennifer Delman, Vice President Kaitlin Cubria, Publicist Chelsea Tirrell, and new e-board member Shea Molloy (who’s also She’s the First’s Summer Creative Associate!) decided to utilize the ingenuity of She’s the First signature tie-dye cupcakes at two music events at their college.

The cupcakes were a hit among everyone!

Hofstra’s Annual Music Fest features acts from well-known musicians, as well as established on-campus music groups, carnival-style rides and activities, hot dogs and hamburgers – free of charge! Naturally, this event generates a great deal of attendance. For such a fun-filled event, it made perfect sense to premiere the tie-dye cupcakes for fundraising.

Clouds and drizzle threatened the success of the program, but the colorful desserts managed to shine through the semi-darkened event. Students and faculty continued to show their support and generosity throughout the day – the cupcakes  were a hit! In fact, because the two hosts for Music Fest were so impressed by the organization, they encouraged the Hofstra community to go to the STF*{Hofstra} table for more information on She’s the First’s mission.

Cupcakes in demand!

The next day, the Hofstra chapter brought more tie-dye cupcakes to the final show of the semester for one of Hostra’s all-girl a’cappella groups, Makin’ Treble. In an attempt to sell more, the founding members were just about to decrease the asking  price of the tie-dye treats. Surprisingly, not one person in attendance was willing to pay less – actually, some members of the audience donated more without taking additional cupcakes, just to applaud She’s the First’s efforts.

It was incredible to experience such heartfelt contributions from the Hofstra community. If this is what could happen in one weekend, then the possibilities for STF*{Hofstra}’s future seem endless.

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A Letter from Mbithe in Kenya!

Today, I was thrilled to receive a letter, report card, and photo from Mbithe Pius at the Kibera School for Girls!

Mbithe is the kindergartner that She’s the First*{Syracuse} sponsored by holding a benefit concert, appropriately titled “Music for Mbithe.” We raised enough money to sponsor her for a full year.

We are happy to see that Mbithe is doing well in school and is enthusiastic about learning!

Here’s what she had to say:

We can’t wait to hear from Mbithe again. We’ll be writing her a letter soon, too. Do you have anything you’d like to say to her? Leave it in the comments!

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7th Graders Start a She’s the First Chapter in Iowa!

Campus Coordinators Monica & Casey first skyped the students at VanMeter to spark their interest in She's the First!

She’s the First*{Campus} started with several highly motivated college students who wanted to help change the world. After several successful college chapters have been in place, a group of students at Van Meter is changing the game. They are now the first non-college chapter to be established, and I have had the privilege of working with them from the beginning.

The mind behind all of this, Shannon Miller, was preceded by her reputation before I met her, from winning a Shorty Award for social media. Shannon was incredibly enthusiastic about starting a chapter with a group of 7th grade girls she teaches, and I contacted her initially to help start this. At our first meeting, she assured me that these girls were something special, and they have already proven it.

Fellow Campus Coordinator Monica Townsend and I skyped with the girls before school one morning to hear their ideas for summer fundraising and help them choose a partner school from the STF directory. They have decided to sponsor a girl through the AfricAid Kisa Project with the hope that social media and technology will help them connect with the girl and share her story throughout their town in Van Meter, Iowa.

Within hours these girls were already well on their way to setting up fundraisers and giving talks to their school. I have no doubt that these girls will have great success with She’s the First, and already stand out as leaders for a new direction in STF chapters. Be sure to follow them on Twitter at @STF_vanmeter, on Facebook, and their brand-new blog: http://shesthefirstvanmeter.blogspot.com.

I’m proud to give you a little bit of the back story, but now you should read Shannon Miller’s point of view on her blog! Her students are not waiting.

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Another Vivanista Contest Victory…Thanks to You!

As the semester winds down and the stress of Finals Week kicks in here at Syracuse University, receiving word that STF*{Syracuse} had another success in a Vivanista contest was a major bright spot.

Mbithe Pius (m-bee-thay - but the "th" is hard, almost like a "D")

The contest, Vivanista’s Flash Fundrasier competition, challenged seven college campus teams from across the country to plan and execute creative fundraisers held within a 48-hour period. (We held a benefit concert to raise money to sponsor Mbithe Pius at the Kibera School for Girls in Kenya…and we raised enough to educate her for a full year!) The group that raised the most money would be granted $1,000 for their charity of choice.

Stanford University’s Bowl-A-Thon for the American Cancer Society raised almost $1,000 and received the additonal $1,000 grant. (Congrats, Stanford!)

But the fun didn’t end when the fundraising was over. Vivanista asked each group to submit a video recap of their fundraiser.  The videos would then be judged based on creativity, social impact and spirit.

However, the “most creative” award was also vote-based. And thanks to YOU, our wonderful supporters, our video managed to garner the most votes!

Thanks to everyone who tweeted, re-tweeted (#FlashFundraiser!), posted on Facebook or simply told their friends to vote for us. It’s no secret that leveraging the power of social networking is critical to She’s the First’s success.

She’s the First*{Syracuse} shares the victory with all of you, and expresses our gratitude to Vivanista for sponsoring another great contest. We enjoyed participating and encourage you to check out the other schools’ videos on the contest page.

 

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She’s the First*{Syracuse} Named “Rising Stars” at SU!

This past Tuesday, April 19, our campus chapter was incredibly honored to receive the Macy’s Rising Star award at the 44 Stars of Excellence Gala at SU! The ceremony honors the achievements of students and organizations on campus. Our PR co-director Sarah Walton nominated us for the award, and we were thrilled to be recognized alongside other students who are dedicated to making a difference.

The Rising Star award is “presented to one student and one recognized student organization that have made the most significant impact and who have excelled through their innovative programming, membership recruitment, service, and commitment to the University and Syracuse community.”

We’ve had a very exciting year, and we’re proud to represent the values of Syracuse University and She’s the First! We’re already preparing for next year, so stay tuned.

 

Macy's representative and SU '07 grad Lindsay Romanowski (left) presents the Macy's Rising Star award to STF*{Syracuse} members Chelsea Orcutt, Amy Snider and Yohanna Kim.

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Shake, Rattle N’ Bowl Raises $150 at STF*{UNI}!

the attendees & organizers of She's the First*{UNI}'s first fundraiser!

The wasn’t a better way for UNI students to spend their Friday night on April 1st other than bowling to raise money for girls’ education all over the world. It was quite the scene— black lights, disco balls, and music your parents used to dance to with big, teased hair, and neon leggings… It was fantastic.

Around 30 students took time out of their busy weekend schedules to make the event better than we could have ever expected. Although some of us may not be the best bowlers in the world (okay, maybe just me), others were getting strike after strike. And many of them moonwalked down the lane to do so. Watch a video on She’s the First*{UNI}’s Facebook page.

When it was time for prizes, everyone got even more excited. I mean, it’s kind of hard not to when you have the most fabulous prizes a girl could ever dream of straight from Victoria’s Secret PINK. There were perfumes, bags, lotion… a.k.a. heaven. See all photos on Flickr!

When the students signed up for the raffle to win the prizes, we had them write something that they’re the first at, whether it was in their family or even amongst their friends—whatever was important to them. It was surprising just how many firsts there actually were. Many students were the first to go to college in their family, others were the firsts to major in a certain field, and then there were a few that were the first in their family to attend the University of Northern Iowa.

Seeing how important a great education is to us here in Iowa really makes you think about how important it is to those amazing young ladies on the other side of the world. We get our chance to make a difference in the world, and with the help of the passionate students involved in She’s the First, those women are able to get their chance as well.

Tehrene (left) is the founder/President of She's the First*{UNI}.

The bowling alley gave us $4 out of every student’s $10 bowling fee to attend Shake, Rattle N’ Bowl, making $150 the grand total raised for the organization (we’re still deciding which sponsorship program to pick in the She’s the First directory). It was a night none of us will ever forget. Ask anyone who attended— the night was definitely a strike.



 

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Notre Dame Students Rep STF at Clinton Global Initiative U

Lindsay Brown and Madeleine Fox, proudly representing She's the First at Clinton Global Initiative U this weekend!

This past weekend, college students representing 50 fifty states and more than 90 countries convened at the University of California, San Diego for the 4th annual meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative University (CGIU). Madeleine Fox and I were fortunate enough to attend for our commitment to empowering girls in the developing world through education.

My name is Lindsay Brown and I am a She’s the First volunteer at the University of Notre Dame. During the fall, my soccer team and I sold enough tie-dyed cupcakes to sponsor three students at Kopila Valley School in Surkhet, Nepal! Inspired by the huge outpouring of support we received, Madeleine and I decided to attend CGIU in the hopes of learning from other college students’ experiences how we could expand our She’s the First efforts not only at Notre Dame but also in the broader community.

Prior to CGIU, student groups dedicated to positive change make a “Commitment to Action” in one of five focus areas: Education, Environment & Climate Change, Poverty Alleviation, and Public Health. CGIU offers these commitment groups a place to come together, share ideas, network, and collaborate to move our commitments one step closer to concrete realities.

On Friday, Former President Bill Clinton stated, “CGIU is more than an event. It’s a community of individuals who work throughout the year to inspire and support.” By the time CGIU convened a mere two days later on Sunday afternoon, I had already began to understand what Former President Clinton was hinting at. I consider myself beyond lucky to be a part of this unique and powerful community. I am honored that I was able to represent She’s the First and its commitment to empowering girls in the developing world. I wish every She’s the First supporter had the opportunity to experience CGIU. It provided me with the sense that between all the chaos of school, family, soccer, and whatever else can possibly fit into 24 hours. I am one of many working toward a united vision of a better world.

I’m having a difficult time finding words to accurately describe the colossal amount of positive energy I encountered.

For two hours straight, every which way I turned I encountered another person overflowing with eagerness to explain their unique vision of a better world and how they planned to go about it. One might find it overwhelming or perhaps even exhaustive, yet for me personally, this energy was reassuring and to some an extent, calming.

For the first time in my life, I was surrounded by nearly 1,100 other college students who seemed to share my own restlessness, my own inability to sit still and be satisfied with the way the world is. It was calming to find that I am not the only one amongst my peers plagued by an unidentifiable force, this unknown gravity, compelling me to act. At this point, I can only be certain of one thing, this force is creating a momentum amongst young people that cannot be constrained by boundaries or stopped with the simple telling of a no. Our energy cannot be contained within the box therefore our ideas are guaranteed to be found outside of it. Kennedy Odede told us “the ideas you have can change the world.” The world better be ready for change because our generation’s vision of a better tomorrow is already becoming a reality.

Hellen Keller once said, “the only thing worse than being blind is having sight but no vision.” Whether it may be educating girls, eradicating malaria, ending global hunger, or fighting climate change, our generation’s solutions to today’s pressing challenges will lead us to a better tomorrow. However, I would like to ask what good is this vision if it never becomes a reality? We have the energy, we have the drive, now it is up to us to make it happen.

Here are some powerful quotes from various CGIU panel members that I think strike a chord with every She’s the First supporter!

  • “Women are the engine of development in any society.” Kennedy Odede
  • “If you just do what you can- you can make a difference.” Former President Clinton
  • “Education is a right, not a privilege.” Mehnaz Akber Aziz
  • “When you change a girl’s life you begin to change the world.” 10×10 The Documentary Group
  • “Empowerment should be fun and sustainable.” Jessica Matthews
  • “Community members must understand that education is an imperative that we must work for together.” Eduardo Padron
  • “What we have in common is more important than our differences.” Former President Clinton
  • “Having a cross-cultural dialogue is really the only way to solve these global problems.” Anu Shradharan
  • “Don’t patronize people, SEE them.” Former President Clinton
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She’s the First*{Hofstra} Wins Over Campus

Chelsea and Gennifer speak

What better time to talk about girls’ education than during Women’s History Month? She’s the First*{Hofstra} Founding President Gennifer Delman, Vice President Kaitlin Cubria, Publicist Chelsea Tirrell, and Social Media Chair Lee Flemming, took on two different residential complexes to reach out to students about their newly established organization.

Both complexes held programs for their residents to raise awareness about the historic time period, and they invited She’s the First*{Hofstra} to speak.

Chelsea and Kaitlin with their cupcakes

We opened both programs up with a little background info on She’s the First, explaining the goals of the organization and what it had already done for girls’ educations in developing countries. We talked about the different campus branches and fundraisers they’d done to raise money and awareness and then told them about our great ideas.

But first, we handed out magenta and teal frosted cupcakes!

The program, appropriately called “We’re the First,” drew in about 30 residents who all wrote what they were the first to do on a poster board.

And then we told them why:

There are girls upon girls in developing countries who are unable to get the education they are so deserving and needing of. With an organization like She’s the First, girls are given the opportunity to be the first in the their families to get an education.

All too often, we take advantage of the provisions we’re given at school. We have great professors, safe buildings, and lessons that will last us a lifetime. And yet, we complain about homework, papers, and tests.

The response was overwhelming. Residents who belonged to different clubs on campus provided their contact information to establish partnerships for future fundraisers. Others provided their information just because they were excited about getting involved!

Show and tell goes a long way.

We told them about our purpose and how easy it is for them to get involved.

We showed them the impact they can have and the girls we’re helping (those adorable She’s the First postcards are quiet handy!).

By the end, we had students saying, “Getting involved without much effort? Awesome. Getting a free cupcake out of the deal? Even better.”

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5k Race for Education by She’s the First*{Notre Dame}

Who will be the first to cross the finish line, so that she can be the first to get an education? The cheesy slogan for the most recent She’s the First fundraiser at Notre Dame was a play on words expressing our organization’s mission, as participants raced to be the first to finish the race. Of course, it wasn’t all competition at the She’s the First*{Notre Dame} 5k Run and Fun Walk. Even for those not running, the event drew attention by blasting ‘90s boy band music from the middle of the quad. Music and delicious granola bars donated by Luna (nutrition for women, how fitting!) made the event a great break for a Sunday afternoon. The race raised a total of $210 that will be put toward the year-long collection by the ND Junior Class Council to benefit Shanti Bhavan in India. (The Junior Class Council Philanthropy Committee previously hosted a Holiday Bash, also to benefit Shanti Bhavan).

Runners at the starting line for the She's the First*{Notre Dame} 5k Run and Fun Walk.

Interested in hosting a race for a She’s the First fundraiser on your campus? Here are our tips for success:

1. Team up with existing clubs or groups on campus (like the Junior Class Council Philanthropy Committee) to help with organization and staffing on race-day.

2. Advertise early! Colorful flyers like this poster help draw attention to the event and the cause.

3. Free food…it’s how college students function.

4. Make T-shirts so participants continue to spread the mission even after the race is over.

5. Have a great race-day play-list, borrow speakers from the student union, and have a blast while helping a girl have her chance to go to school!

Check out our photos in the She’s the First*{Campus} Flickr album!

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