In 1995, one of the moms at PSCS starting an after school girls group. In short order, all the PSCS girls started attended these events which gave them a forum for navigating some of the challenges of being a teen girl in our culture. It was a powerful experience.

An organization called Teen Talking Circles helped the girls and the facilitator create structure for these meetings. Much of this structure carried over to other aspects of PSCS. We begin and end each of our school days in “circle,” we have a special hour-long, school-wide circle every Monday afternoon, our major community events end in appreciation circles, and our graduation ceremonies were influenced by this concept.

So when Linda Wolf, the founder of Teen Talking Circles, asked me choose a student to come with me to represent PSCS at their annual feel-good/fundraising event, it was quite an honor. I just got back from the event and am thrilled to say that Claire, the PSCS student who spoke on the school’s behalf, was brilliant.

The photo is the best my cell phone could get of the Teen Talking Circle staff taking a bow on stage.