‘She was a person?’

By Mary-Justine Lanyon
Editor

After having a snack of pizza, clementines, carrots and water, the members of Every Girl Counts – the club for sixth, seventh and eighth-grade girls at Mary Putnam Henck Intermediate School – took the short walk to the Mountain History Museum.

The club – sponsored by Soroptimist International of Rim of the World – aims to boost the girls’ self-esteem and introduce them to a variety of careers and ways they can be the best version of themselves.

At each meeting, the girls learn about a woman who has done just that. At the Oct. 23 meeting, Soroptimist Sheila Arnett told them about Mary Putnam Henck, after whom their school was named.

“She was a person?” one girl called out. She was indeed. 

And just prior to leaving for the museum, Lupe McDonald, who coordinates the program, asked how many girls had already been there. Only four hands went up. One girl said she had never been to any museum.

When they arrived at the Mountain History Museum, each girl was handed a scavenger hunt sheet. They scoured the museum’s exhibits, looking for answers to questions like “What year did Santa’s Village open?” and “What city has had a music camp since 1942?”

As the girls found their answers, they were excited to call out, “Found it!”

Before returning to MPH, the girls gathered in a circle in the museum’s parking lot where McDonald held up a talking stick and told them its purpose. The person holding the stick, she explained, is the only person who can speak as long as they have it. She had the girls pass the stick around and tell the group one thing no one else knew about them. And then – to see if they had been listening – she brought girls into the center of the circle one at a time and asked if they heard who is a professional actor, who likes the color pink, who likes to tap dance.

The 40 girls then had the opportunity back at the school to make their own talking sticks, which they decorated with beads, yarn and feathers.