Elizabeth Seton High School Forges New Partnerships

Seton will partner with Girls Inc. of the Washington, DC Metropolitan area (Girls Inc. DC) to conduct a month-long Summer STEM and Leadership Academy for incoming ninth-grade students. Additionally, Girls Inc. DC will conduct professional development for faculty and staff on building students’ identity, resilience and self-esteem, teaching students to navigate social challenges, and establish boundaries, among other topics. Girls Inc. DC will also explore partnerships and opportunities to grow Seton’s Learning Engineering and Design (LEAD) Program. Girls Inc. DC focuses on the development of the whole girl through mentoring relationships, evidence-based programming, and advocating for legislation and policies to increase opportunities and rights for all girls.

 

As a founding member of the International Coalition of Girls’ Schools (ICGS), Seton joins similar all-girls schools in the region, such as The Academy of the Holy Cross, Stone Ridge School of the Sacred Heart, and Georgetown Visitation Preparatory School. Utilizing the resources of the ICGS global network of more than 330 schools, Seton will engage in research and professional development opportunities specifically created for leaders and faculty in girls’ schools. Seton will participate in networking and exchange programs with schools around the globe. ICGS Coalition connects and collaborates globally with individuals, schools, and mission-aligned entities dedicated to educating and empowering girls. 

 

“Through these partnerships, Seton will continue to live its Catholic identity, emphasize academic rigor, while also attending to our girls’ overall well-being”, says Seton President Lisa Grillo, “Our goal is to provide a safe and nurturing environment that cultivates healthy and joyful young women. We understand that this must begin the moment students enter Seton’s doors.” 

 

These partnerships coincide with recent data from the Youth Risk Behavior Survey conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A nationally representative sample of students was surveyed in public and private high schools. The Washington Post reported recently on the survey, illuminating a multitude of stressors faced by teenage girls, including social media culture, impossible beauty standards, online hate, academic pressure, economic difficulties, self-doubt and sexual violence. 

 

About Seton:

 

Begun in 1959 in Bladensburg, MD, Elizabeth Seton High School is a girls’ Catholic high school, offering a college preparatory curriculum in grades 9 through 12. Currently Seton offers 13 advanced placement and 24 honors level courses. Seton’s curriculum has further evolved today to include four pre-career programs that offer students exposure to career fields, both inside and outside the classroom. Each of these academic tracks offer professional mentorship and internship programs. 

About Girls Inc. DC:

Our vision: empowered girls in an equitable metropolitan Washington, DC. As one of 79 Girls Inc. affiliates in the U.S., we advance girls’ rights and opportunities through direct service and advocacy, based in the belief that every girl deserves to grow up healthy, educated, and independent. Girls Inc. DC programs have included after school, spring break camps, STEM and leadership academies and the Fortune Leadership Group. From 2014 to 2019, Girls Inc. DC served more than 1,300 girls in the metropolitan DC area. To learn more, visit http://www.girlsincdc.org