Junior League of Tyler Hosts Girl Power Event at UT Tyler
By MACY WEATHERFORD/Staff Writer
Girl Power is a free event by the Junior League of Tyler for sixth-grade girls in Smith County on Jan. 21 from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at The University of Tyler University Center – focused on self-worth, empowerment, self-care, mental health, civic engagement and vision casting. During this summit, they will equip girls with the tools necessary to become successful, civically engaged within the community.
Some of the activities the girls get to participate in are self-defense, yoga, making blankets and bracelets.
Caroline Zito, associate director of admission at UT Tyler and Junior League member, said, “Girl power has been held on the UT Tyler campus for the last five or so years, taking a break between because of COVID-19. Girl Power is held by the Junior League of Tyler, which is a service group.”
Lindsey Froneberger, lead admission officer at UT Tyler, said, “At the Girl Power event I was the representative of UT Tyler whenever they had their initial welcome session for all the girls. They invited me up on stage to talk about UT Tyler and welcome them to our campus.”
Froneberger continued, “I just talked a little bit about the importance of college and what a great resource UT Tyler can be for them as they achieve their goals and go for their dream jobs.”
The Spirit Award ceremony. Photo taken by Lindsey Froneberger
“One of my favorite things about the girl power event to be honest was all of the pink that was there. It was just so fun and girly and just they really made it special for these sixth-grade girls in the community. You could tell the girls were just so excited they loved practicing their girl power chant,” Froneberger said.
This was Froneberger’s first time attending Girl Power. She was excited to share the joy that college brings.
Froneberger continued, “At Girl Power they really went all out to show the girls how special they are with all the speakers that they brought and the activities they had. It’s just such a light in the community and it was just a really cool thing to be a part of it.”
The Junior League of Tyler is a women’s organization committed to promoting volunteerism, developing the potential of women and improving communities through trained volunteers. Its is exclusively educational and charitable.
According to Junior League, the organization has given back more than $7.5 million and hundreds of thousands of volunteer hours. Members have contributed over 20,000 volunteer hours and over $290,000 toward community projects.
“I am a part of Junior League and I serve as the campus liaison between Junior League and UT Tyler. I actually heard of Junior League because of Girl Power when I helped them with their event last year. I was very interested as to what this event was and who the Junior League was,” Zito said.
Zito continued, “I’m not from Tyler so I thought it would be a great way to get connected to the community and learn more about Tyler as well. I think it’s really cool that a bunch of ladies come together to just raise money as well as giving back to the community. We really focus on being really intentional about where our service hours are and where our money that we raise goes. It has been really enlightening to see the intention behind all of the projects that the Junior League participates in.”
Zito is in her first year with Junior League of Tyler. She is in her provisional year.
“In June there are projects and for the provisional project you have requirements that you must meet in your first year before you can become an active member,” Zito said.
Zito continued, “If anyone is interested in joining Junior League you can go to their website and that has more information about paperwork and kind of when it starts and getting connected as well. All you need to do is find an active or sustainer that is currently in the Junior League to be your sponsor for your provisional year.”
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