Thirteen rising Poughkeepsie Middle School students are receiving lessons in self-confidence, networking and leadership, and forming friendships before beginning at a new school.
The Poughkeepsie City School District this summer launched a chapter of The Black Pearl Program, an empowerment curriculum that began in New York City and “is dedicated to uplifting Black girls globally,” according to its site. The class, which is being run by sixth-grade teacher Selina Barrington, began July 22 and will run through Aug. 15.
“That transitional period into middle school is when all children really lose themselves – who they are, who they want to be – and they start to want to be who they think everyone wants them to be,” Barrington said. “Elementary school is wonderful. It’s bucket-filling. It’s kindness. And in middle school you get a harsh reality that that’s not how the world actually is. They start to lose their self-esteem. They start to be very self-conscious.”
Barrington said the curriculum focuses on opening communication into areas of education, success, self-image, wellness and culture. Their first week, for example, included discussion on colorism and the students’ own experiences. Barrington said the small group atmosphere lent itself to the girls openly sharing despite some of them only meeting for the first time in the class.
The classes begin with an “empowerment circle,” in which each student shares an accomplishment, a personal strength, a goal or a recent experience. They also write positive affirmations and have a gratitude jar in which they can write a compliment to another member of the class. At the end of the class Barrington reads through the compliments.
“They fill up the jar,” she said. “They’re really cute. They say, ‘I like your hair,’ I like your jewelry,’ I like what you said today.’”
Aspen Parker said she “kind of gets shy” when trying to compliment people to their faces. “That’s why we just write the compliment for the jar and we put our names on it to see who wrote it.”
Parker said she’s made several new friends through the class, and has learned “you have to believe in yourself” and to not “care what other people say.” Her favorite part so far, though, has been the guest speakers.
The first on July 25, LaToya Irvin-Murphy, gave a presentation on HBCUs, sororities and networking, which prompted an assignment in which the students researched more on the histories and traditions of individual HBCUs for the rest of the group.
Black Pearl founder Phylicia Henry visited on July 29 and brought gifts – skin care tools and a passport cover, as encouraging international travel is part of the program. She also spoke to the students about the importance of not only having a positive self-image but how putting an effort into personal appearance can lead to success.
“Perception is reality. It’s unfortunate,” she said. “I’m not going to lie to you, it’s about how you present yourself and how you show up.”
The “Pearl” in the program’s name is an acronym meaning “Pretty, Educated, Aware, Refined, Ladies.” Henry discussed how those attributes combat common stereotypes directed toward Black girls, which can injure their self-image.
“We work every single day on making sure we have positive self-esteem,” she said of being a Black woman.
Henry called the program “a sisterhood,” in which its members can look out for each other. Barrington said she hopes to extend the program into the school year to provide support during the transition to middle school.
“Our goal each day is to teach them how to have high self-esteem for themselves,” Barrington said. “Love themselves. Understand they are worth anything they want."
