Helping girls make better choices
By Sherry Posnick-Goodwin
Connie Iglesias (left) with Bianca Arias.
Castro Valley High School senior Bianca Arias plans on becoming a nurse, and she has applied to several universities to achieve her goal. She gives much of the credit for her academic success to the “strong support system” she receives from belonging to Mujeres, a group that meets regularly with school counselor Connie Iglesias.
“Instead of thinking short-term, I’m thinking long-term,” says Arias, who is the club’s president.
Iglesias founded the club because she saw some female students getting into fights, not succeeding at school, and even dropping out. She worried that they were making choices that might lead to a “rougher life” in adulthood — affecting their future relationships, career choices and overall well-being.
The Castro Valley Teachers Association member wanted to put these girls, mostly Latina, on a better path, and asked some of them to join a group called Mujeres, which is Spanish for “women.” Programs reaching out to minority youth, she observes, often focus on boys rather than girls, who may fall through the cracks.
“Traditionally, these kinds of girls don’t talk to adults and might be failing in class,” she says. “I can be that caring adult who wants them to succeed. I know what it’s like. I am a Latina, and some of my family members did not graduate from high school. I call their parents. I do a lot of hand-holding.”
Founded three years ago, Mujeres meets weekly for lunch to discuss life, coping skills, and how to be