Nonprofit focuses on education ‘gender gap’

She’s the First raises funds and awareness for girls’ education in developing countries.

Maddi Gray, sophomore, Zac Baker, sophomore, and Rachel Paul, junior, make up the board of Temple’s chapter of She’s the First, a nonprofit organization that funds education for girls in low-income countries. Gray opened the chapter at Temple last spring. | Jenny Kerrigan TTN
Maddi Gray, sophomore, Zac Baker, sophomore, and Rachel Paul, junior, make up the board of Temple’s chapter of She’s the First, a nonprofit organization that funds education for girls in low-income countries. Gray opened the chapter at Temple last spring. | Jenny Kerrigan TTN

Each morning in Surkhet, Nepal, a third-grader named Bagbati wakes up, dons her school uniform and walks to the Kopila Valley Children’s School, where she’s studying on a scholarship funded in part by Temple’s new campus chapter of She’s the First.

During this semester, Temple’s chapter of STF, along with a technical school in Rhode Island, will try to raise the $360 necessary to fully fund Bagbati’s education for next year, providing her with necessities like textbooks, school lunches and tuition.

Last spring, Maddi Gray, a sophomore political science and global studies major, founded Temple’s campus chapter of the national nonprofit, which funds girls’ education in ten developing countries to help them become the first in their families to graduate high school.

“In developing areas where She’s the First is active, there’s a large literacy gap and education gap between men and women,” said Gray, president of Temple’s STF chapter.

Gray believes funding girls’ education can solve social and health issues that are linked to a lack of women’s rights in some countries, while also providing for poverty alleviation and economic growth.

Though the Temple chapter got a late start in raising funds last spring, it met the $100 minimum required to be matched with a scholar by the end of the school year.

“[Getting] matched with a scholar … is the most rewarding part, because you can put a name and a face to all the hard work you did,” Gray said. “ Because of us this girl was able to go to [school], and that’s incredible.”

STF Temple was also paired up with Campus Mentor Kim Horner from the national nonprofit.

Horner founded the STF chapter on her own college campus prior to becoming a mentor.

“College chapters [were] started …because the students are so passionate about education, because they’re still learning, they’re still in school,” Horner said.

In preparation for this upcoming school year, STF Temple sent Rachel Paul, the co-manager of social media, to the 4th Annual STF*{Campus} Leadership Summit, which was held July 31 to Aug. 2 at Microsoft’s offices in New York City.

Paul, a junior biology major, heard from guest speakers and attended workshops dealing with effective advocacy and feminism. She got advice on including male students in the conversation about girls’ education and equality.

“To get boys involved you can walk up to someone and [ask], ‘Where did your mother go to school?’”Paul said. “Then for a second he’s thinking about women’s education.”

STF Temple’s executive board already boasts two male student leaders.

“With the title ‘She’s the First’…we don’t want [people] to think that you have to be a girl to join,” Paul said. “If we have an event, we want guys and girls to show up.”

STF Temple’s executive board is currently in the process of solidifying plans for its fall schedule. The first general body meeting is set for Sept. 14 at 8 p.m. in Student Center Room 217.

They plan to participate in the national nonprofit’s two fundraising campaigns, “Bake A Change,” which calls for chapters across the country to celebrate the nonprofit’s founding by selling tie-dye cupcakes, and “Sweat for STF,” which promotes fundraising through fitness events.

“The idea [with ‘Sweat for STF’] is some girls have to walk six miles to get to school,” Paul said. “So by putting yourself in the challenge of fitness…you’re sort of raising awareness.”

STF Temple also plans to screen the documentary “He Named Me Malala,” as well as the film “Difret,” which is based on the struggles of a real life STF scholar in Ethiopia.

For the fall semester, STF Temple hopes to reach their self-set $500 fundraising goal, while also making students on Main Campus more aware of the struggles that girls face in developing countries.

“[These women are] stuck in such traditional roles,” Gray said. “Even if they are going to pursue traditional roles, it’s better for women to at least be able to have a high school education.”

Jenny Roberts can be reached at jennifer.roberts@temple.edu or on Twitter @jennyroberts511.

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