The Accelerate Her Ripple Effect: Three Schools, Thousands of Students
Three teams. Three schools. Thousands of students impacted.
Girls of Impact’s Accelerate Her Career Mentorship Programme is designed not only to develop young women, but to challenge them to use their leadership, skills and networks to make a difference in the communities around them.
As part of Cohort 4 of Accelerate Her, mentees across Trinidad and Tobago were tasked with developing and executing community Impact Projects. Working in teams, the young women identified spaces within schools that could benefit from revitalisation and brought their ideas to life through beautification projects.
The result was tangible impact at three schools across Trinidad and Tobago, creating improved spaces that will be enjoyed by thousands of students in the years ahead.
North Team: Revitalising the Art Room at St. George’s College
The North Team directed its efforts towards St. George’s College, where mentees worked to update and beautify the school’s Art Room.
The project helped create a refreshed and more inviting environment where students can explore their creativity, develop their artistic abilities and express themselves.
By investing in a space dedicated to creativity and learning, the team has left behind an improvement that will continue to benefit successive groups of students long after the conclusion of Accelerate Her Cohort 4.
South Team: Transforming Spaces at San Fernando Girls’ Anglican School
In South Trinidad, the Accelerate Her team undertook its Impact Project at San Fernando Girls’ Anglican School, focusing on improvements to the school’s auditorium and netball court.
These are important communal spaces within the school environment, places where students can gather, learn, participate in activities and build community.
Through their work, the mentees contributed to creating spaces that are more welcoming and conducive to the educational and extracurricular experiences of the girls who use them.
Tobago Team: Building a Legacy at Scarborough Secondary School
In Tobago, Accelerate Her mentees set out to create something that would become a lasting part of the identity of Scarborough Secondary School.
The team designed and installed a legacy landmark on the school compound, creating a visible symbol of school identity, pride and belonging for current and future generations of students.
The initiative was intended to strengthen students’ connection to their school and create a landmark that members of the Scarborough Secondary community could identify with and take pride in.
The project also represents the legacy of Accelerate Her’s Tobago cohort. Long after the programme has ended, the landmark will remain, a tangible reminder of what can be achieved when young women are empowered to collaborate, serve and leave their communities better than they found them.
Through this project, our Tobago mentees created something that can become part of Scarborough Secondary School’s story for years to come.
From Mentees to Changemakers
The Impact Project component of Accelerate Her is intentional.
Leadership cannot only be taught in a workshop. Young women must also be given opportunities to practise leadership, to identify problems, develop solutions, mobilise resources, work through challenges and collaborate with others to achieve a shared goal.
Through these three projects, our mentees did exactly that.
While Accelerate Her Cohort 4 directly invested in the development of young women from across Trinidad and Tobago, the impact of the programme extends far beyond its participants.
Thousands of students will now benefit from the spaces our mentees helped to improve.
That is the multiplier effect of investing in young women: when we equip one young woman to lead, her impact can extend to a classroom, a school and eventually an entire community.
At Girls of Impact, this is the kind of leadership we want to cultivate, leadership rooted not simply in achievement, but in service, collaboration and meaningful action.
Three Schools. One Commitment to Impact.
From the Art Room at St. George’s College, to the auditorium and court at San Fernando Girls’ Anglican School, to Scarborough Secondary School in Tobago, Cohort 4 has left a physical reminder of what young women can accomplish when they work together with purpose.
The programme may have ended, but the spaces they transformed, and the students who will continue to use them, ensure that their impact continues.
Accelerate Her develops young women who do more than aspire to change. We equip them to create it.