Notre Dame

Now Watching ‘Pretty Amazing’ Seventeen.com Videos!

Walk by the newsstand. Pick up the October issue of Seventeen. You’ll recognize a face you’ve seen all over shesthefirst.org!

Lindsay Brown is the President of She’s the First*{Notre Dame} chapter and SEVENTEEN MAGAZINE’s cover girl!

As we found out last week, Lindsay won this year’s Pretty Amazing reader model cover contest, as a result of her genius idea to sponsor girls’ educations one tie-dye cupcake at a time and her powerful girls’ empowerment soccer program in Nepal!

Seventeen is a girl’s go-to magaizne for entertainment, fashion, and beauty, and it’s so refreshing to see them be bold in the media world by making one of their readers, a girl just like you or me, a super celebrity, for reasons that truly matter–having a big heart and dreams to change the world.

Seventeen captured Lindsay’s ‘Pretty Amazing’ journey on video. Check out some of our favorite episodes:


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She’s the First*{Notre Dame} President is Seventeen Cover Girl!

CONGRATULATIONS to our Lindsay Brown, creator of the tie-dye cupcake fundraising craze and president of the She’s the First*{Notre Dame} chapter — out of 35,000 entries, she WON Seventeen‘s “Pretty Amazing” Reader Model Cover Contest!

Pick up the October issue of Seventeen ASAP to read about Lindsay and the four outstanding finalists: Chloe, Brittany, Kim, and Lindsay G., whom we admire for being “firsts” in their own incredibly impressive ways, from ballet to flying planes!

Thank you to the contest judges — Ann Shoket, Jared Eng, and Emma Roberts, and all the Seventeen readers who voted — for recognizing that Lindsay’s story can inspire millions of girls to take action for education equality worldwide.

Why is this cover so exciting?! Well,…

  1. It’s academic! Lindsay will receive a $20,000 scholarship (very well-deserved given that she’s spent so much of her own money traveling to Nepal…she also plans to go to Kenya over winter break, to implement her girls’ empowerment soccer program!).
  2. It’s bigger than one person. The girls Lindsay sponsors in Nepal — especially 13-year-old Hima — are going to flip out when they see their stories in the magazine, too! If this doesn’t prove to them that crazy dreams can come true, we don’t know what does! Lindsay also represents what it means to be a She’s the First*{Campus} leader, before a huge national audience of college-bound teens.
  3. It’s actionable. Most of all, any American girl who picks up Seventeen and says, “I want to be like Lindsay Brown!” can do just that, right now. None of us needs to wait to be the change we wish to see. Sign ups for our Tie-Dye Cupcake Bake-Off movement in November have begun!

We congratulate you, Lindsay, and celebrate the work of you and your fellow She’s the First*{Campus} presidents across the U.S. do–there’s 35 of you now!

We also would like to recognize the founder of our Nepal partner school, Maggie Doyne…because without her, there would be no “Pretty Amazing” story, there would be no Hima to inspire this “girl effect.” We are humbled that we get to write the happy ending with all of you.

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She’s the First*{Notre Dame} Star Will be in Seventeen!

SOCCER STAR PUTS SHE’S THE FIRST IN NATIONAL SPOTLIGHT:
Student Lindsay Brown Named a Seventeen Cover Contest Finalist

The tie-dye cupcake bake sale fundraiser that launched a movement for girls’ education worldwide will reach millions of teen girls through the Pretty Amazing Contest, sponsored by Neutrogena

New York (June  07, 2012)–Seventeen, the leading teen magazine reaching 13 million girls, announced on Friday that Lindsay Brown, a rising senior at the University of Notre Dame and a founding member of the campus’s chapter of non-profit She’s the First, is a Top 5 finalist in its Pretty Amazing cover model contest. Her boundless energy and commitment to She’s the First’s cause—funding girls’ education in the developing world, not to mention starting her own empowering soccer program—helped her stand out among applicants. If she wins, she will receive a $20,000 scholarship from Neutrogena Wave for Change and appear on the cover of the October 2012 issue of Seventeen.

This contest means more than a personal achievement for Lindsay—it will also bring momentum to the 2nd Annual She’s the First Tie-Dye Cupcake Bake-Off fundraising campaign, which Lindsay inspired. In September and October, students nationwide will join Lindsay in changing the game for girls’ education by signing up to host bake sales on campus. From November 12-18, their classmates will purchase the eye-catching tie-dye treats. In the process, they’ll sponsor girls at the eight developing world partner schools of She’s the First, located  in countries like Nepal, Tanzania, Guatemala, and India, where four out of five girls don’t graduate from high school. Last year’s inaugural Tie-Dye Cupcake Bake-Off raised $22,800 to sponsor 48 girls in just eight days with the participation of 100 teams across the nation.

“With Seventeen’s spotlight on Lindsay and the cupcake fundraising campaign, we expect young men and women here in the U.S. to connect with the mission of She’s the First on a never-before-seen level,” said Tammy Tibbetts, founder and president of She’s the First. “Internationally, the money we raise will enable girls who were condemned to a life of poverty to be the first in their families to graduate high school. This is an inspiring message for teens in the U.S., teaching them empathy along with valuable entrepreneurial, leadership, and social media skills.”

The tie-dye cupcake craze started in Fall 2010, after Lindsay, then a soccer player, and Maddie Fox, the goalkeeper, led the NCAA-winning Notre Dame women’s soccer players in organizing a campus bake sale of special tie-dyed cupcakes. The women raised $900, enough to sponsor three girls at the Kopila Valley School in Surkhet, Nepal. Meanwhile, Lindsay shared the recipe with shesthefirst.org; it quickly went viral among supporters. That summer, Lindsay traveled to Nepal to meet the girls she sponsored, and she formed the first girls’ soccer team in the region, teaching the young athletes confidence on the field and in the classroom.

The winner of the Pretty Amazing contest is chosen through public voting and by a distinguished panel of judges, including actress Emma Roberts, Seventeen editor-in-chief Ann Shoket, and celebrity blogger Jared Eng.

To support Lindsay and She’s the First, vote at seventeen.com/prettyamazing; share her story through social media (watch her impressive finalist video at http://ow.ly/bplpW); sign up on shesthefirst.org/cupcakes to host a tie-dye cupcake fundraiser of your own; or contribute to a girl’s sponsorship at shesthefirst.org/donate.

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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

 

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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.

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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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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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Happy New Year from She’s the First!

We made a She's the First Yearbook of our first year memories on Shutterfly.com!

She’s the First made a yearbook from our first year! On Shutterfly.com, we created a hardcover book, and each year, we’ll make it a tradition. We’ll keep these in our office someday, but for now, they’re in the hands of a few She’s the First leaders, and we scanned the pages for you to see below!

Thanks to all who made 2010 an incredible year for our organization and, most importantly, for the girls we support worldwide! By our count, in our first full year, we sponsored at least 36 girls and raised at least $13,430 for girls’ tuition from our marquee events and your independent, grassroots fundraisers!

(If we left anyone out, please forgive and email tammy@shesthefirst.org so we can update. To see the partners in our directory which manage the sponsored girls’ schooling, visit shesthefirst.org/directory).

Special thanks to our FRIENDS OF FIRSTS who made life-changing, world-shaking change with us this year!

* The guests, performers, and supporters of GIRLS WHO ROCK: $6,000 – sponsored Elizabeth, Grace, Happiness in Tanzania)

* The guests of the She’s the First Soiree: $1,550 – sponsored a girl we’ll meet in 2011 at Shanti Bhavan Children’s Project in India!

* Lauren Horn & Sarah Matthews & Friends: $700 – sponsored 7 girls in Haiti!

* Lew Blaustein: 2 girls in Haiti, 1 in Tanzania at Village Schools International

* Evelyn Lisoski, Tara Rummell Berson, and Melissa Walker: 3 girls in Malawai in Goods4Good’s program

* Annemarie Dooling & Friends on Twitter: 1 girl in Haiti

* Sammy Davis: 1 girl in  Haiti

* Kaitlin Davis: 1 girl in Haiti and 1 girl in Kenya at Kiberia School for Girls

* Lindsay Brown, Maggie Fox & their Women’s Soccer Team & Friends at Notre Dame: 3 girls in Nepal at Maggie Doyne’s Kopila Valley Children’s Home & School

* Justis: 1 girl in Haiti

* Mackenzie Olson: 1 girl in Nepal

* Nancy Roberts: 1 girl in Liberia

* Kate Lord: 1 girl in Haiti

* IWantHerJob.com, by Brianne Burrowes: 2 girls in Guatemala in Starfish One by One’s program

* Julie Wamser and her dorm at Notre Dame: 2 girls in Tanzania at Village Schools International

* Urban Girl Squad: 2 girls in Tanzania at Village Schools International

* She’s the First*{Manhattan}: $300 – beneficiary to be decided in Jan 2011!

* Proceeds from the Asha Patel Designs She’s the First Bracelets: $298 and growing! for Shanti Bhavan and Kenya Education Fund girls

* Proceeds from the Prime Produce Prom: at least $625 – beneficiary program TBD in Jan 2011!


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Notre Dame’s Festive Info Session for She’s the First

[Editor's Note: This is a guest post by Casey Kraft and Monica Townsend, of the University of Notre Dame, who hosted a holiday information session during Finals Week to get their classmates excited about fundraising for She's the First in the Spring 2011 semester...girls and guys got involved, and all had a blast! This activity follows a tie-dyed cupcake fundraiser held on campus by sophomores Lindsay Brown and Maggie Fox, for girls' in Nepal. Casey and Monica are leading efforts to sponsor a girl in India in 2011 with the junior class.]

Casey (right) and friend, at the She's the First info desk.

Buddy the Elf might claim that the best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear, but spreading awareness for girls’ education has to be a close second.

The Philanthropy Committee of the Junior Class Council at the University of Notre Dame combined both activities in their Charity Christmas Extravaganza last week. The event featured live music, a showing of Elf and gingerbread-house making as a stress-reliever leading up to finals week. A She’s the First information desk prominently displayed in the middle of the student center reminded finals-crazy students of how lucky they are to have an education and explained how to give back through sponsorship at one of the STF partner schools.

Optional donations (adding up to $56) were collected at the event as part of the Philanthropy Committee’s goal to integrate STF into several activities throughout the year with the ultimate goal of a junior class sponsorship in 2011. Molly Kiernan, vice president of the committee, gave this reflection on the event:

Making gingerbread houses helped the students bond -- and relieve finals stress! -- so they could work together next semester on fundraisers for a girl's sponsorship in India.

“The Junior Class Council at Notre Dame was really excited about working with She’s The First…Its connection to college campuses and the enthusiastic staff of young adults makes it the perfect organization for college students to get excited about.  Also, now more than ever, Notre Dame students are recognizing the importance of education, and that not everyone is lucky enough to have the opportunities that we have.  We thought that the Christmas Party, with its casual and friendly setting, would be a great way to introduce She’s the First to the Notre Dame community… This was just the beginning; we’re definitely ready to work with She’s the First more in the future.”

What better time than the holiday season to encourage others to give back?

She’s the First*{Notre Dame} expects to be official in the Spring semester! To bring She’s the First to your campus, apply here.

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The Famous Tie-Dyed Cupcakes That Fundraised $900!

When we blogged about the cupcake fundraiser at Notre Dame, you wanted to see with your own eyes the tie-dyed cupcakes that raised $900 for She’s the First, sponsoring three girls at Maggie Doyne’s Kopila Valley Children’s Home in Nepal. Well, here they are! Post these beauties to your Facebook wall/Twitter to spread the word about how creative and colorful fundraising for girls’ sponsorships can be. Kudos to the Women’s Soccer Team at ND for inventing this magic recipe for making a difference. As you read in our blog post, they are the newly crowned champs of the NCAA…and certainly honorable champs of She’s the First as well. We look forward to reporting back in 2011 about the girls in Nepal whose lives they’ve forever sweetened with an education.

photo by Lindsay Brown

photo by Lindsay Brown

 

 

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NCAA Champs Send 3 Girls to School in Nepal with Tie-Dyed Cupcakes!

These aren't only NCAA Champs from the University of Notre Dame -- they are also sponsors of three girls in Nepal through She's the First!

Tie-dyed cupcake sales spread through the dormitories of the University of Notre Dame campus this past semester. The purpose? To fundraise for She’s the First by sponsoring a girl at Maggie Doyne’s Kopila Valley Children’s Home & School, the Nepal partner in our directory.

The passion & creativity? The idea came from the women’s soccer team, at the same time that they were on a quest for the gold at the NCAA Women’s Soccer Championship. (They won on Sunday! )

The result? Nearly one thousand dollars were raised, each $2 cupcake at a time, to sponsor three girls! Maggie, who was recently featured on the cover of the New York Times Magazine for her work educating children in Nepal, has blogged about the impact the ND team had on her school here.

Notre Dame's cupcakes for a cause

We’d like to recognize the catalyst for these cause-filled cupcakes, sophomore Lindsay Brown, originally from Newport Beach, California, who simply wrote into shesthefirst.org earlier this year and asked how she could help. We encouraged her to have a fundraiser on campus, and she ran with the idea — running, after all, comes naturally to a NCAA star.

Lindsay hosted the first tie-dyed cupcake sale in her dorm, and when it was an easy success, her teammates followed the example and set up in their dorm. Sophomore Maddie Fox of San Jose CA hosted the second sale and continues to be Lindsay’s right-hand woman in hosting additional events. The rest is history…Notre Dame is now pending approval from their Office of Campus Activities to become an official She’s the First*{Campus} chapter!

If you are interested in forming a chapter of She’s the First at school, to host fundraisers and activities supporting girls’ education, apply here, or email info@shesthefirst.org.

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She’s The First Spirit at Notre Dame University

Katie Washington, first African-American valedictorian of Notre Dame University, Class of 2010

Katie Washington, first African-American valedictorian of Notre Dame University, Class of 2010

She’s the First is leaving its mark on the University of Notre Dame campus! Most notably, this June we joined the Class of 2010 in celebrating the first African-American valedictorian ever, Katie Washington, a biological sciences major from Gary, Indiana. She led the Class of 2010 with a 4.0 GPA.

Katie’s resume is quite impressive! She conducted research on lung cancer at the Cold Spring Harbor labs, performed genetic studies in the University’s Eck Institute for Global Health on the mosquito that carries dengue and yellow fever, and is the co-author of a research paper with David Severson, professor of biological sciences.

“I am humbled,” Katie said to the Northwest Indiana Times. “I am in a mode of gratitude and thanksgiving right now.”

And while Katie is now pursuing a joint M.D./Ph.D at Johns Hopkins University, the She’s the First spirit lives on at Notre Dame with some exciting fundraising projects for girls’ sponsorships underway for the 2010-2011 school year! She’s The First Campus Activities Coordinator Monica Townsend, a rising junior at Notre Dame, gave us a heads up on the creativity to come:

Monica hopes to sponsor a girl’s college education for the year by reserving a portion of the money raised at each of her Junior Class Philanthropy Committee’s planned events (including a dodgeball tournament, a dance, and even a 5k run!). Monica is additionally looking into a sponsorship that will allow students to email with the girls abroad in order “to raise awareness that a few fun events can give someone a world away, a college opportunity like we have here at Notre Dame.”

And while nothing has been written in stone yet for Monica’s spring semester, she plans on having a full-on She’s The First benefit event—perhaps a dorm competition to see who can raise the most money. Students at Notre Dame have sponsored two girls already!

Inspired by this story? We are introducing an official outreach program for high schools and universities this fall, called She’s the First*{Campus}. Want to be a pilot school? Email tammy@shesthefirst.org for more info!

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Sponsor Spotlight: Lewis Hall at University of Notre Dame

Julie Wamser's efforts at Notre Dame sponsored two girls in Tanzania!

Julie Wamser's efforts at Notre Dame sponsored two girls in Tanzania!

We’re so proud to shed the latest ‘sponsor spotlight’ on Julie Wamser at Notre Dame. You may have read our post last week announcing her breaking news that two girls would be sponsored in Tanzania! Here, read about how Julie made it happen. What we love most of all is that her inspiration came from a past ‘sponsor spotlight,’ Monica Townsend, whose dorm at Notre Dame sponsored a girl in Liberia back in October. Girl sponsorship has a ripple effect!

Name: Julie Wamser
Age: 19, University of Notre Dame, Pursuing B.S. degree in Computer Science and B.A. degree in French
Money Raised: $227
How: Lewis Hall has a week-long dorm event called “Crush Week” which culminates in a BBQ and dance. I was one of the dorm commissioners for this event. I decided that pairing a charity that supports underprivileged girls’ education with our dorm event made perfect sense.  After all, the women of Lewis Hall have the opportunity to pursue higher education. A cause to help young girls across the world take a step closer to achieving the same thing surely would win plenty of support!  Therefore, a donation box was included at ticket sales for the weekend dance, along with a multitude of posters put up around the dorm encouraging girls to contact their RAs to make donations within their section to this incredible cause.  At week’s end, we had raised enough money to support two girls in Tanzania [at Village Schools International]!

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Sponsor Spotlight: Dorm at University of Notre Dame

welsh family hall sponsors for viola

Welsh Family Hall -- Viola has so many young women championing her education!

Who You’re Sponsoring: Viola
Via: MacDella Cooper Foundation (MCF)
Who Is Sponsoring Her and How Much Each Contributed: The girls of Welsh Family Hall, University of Notre Dame. Everyone gave $2-$5 each. It went a long way!
Why It’s Special: We all feel so lucky to have gotten so far academically that everyone was really excited to help another girl around the world get an education. We love decorating cards for Viola and keeping the dorm posted about new developments (letters, report cards, and pictures). We can’t wait to see what she’ll be the first to do!

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