Russell Sage College’s Troy campus is now home to a support organization for girls.
Girls Inc. of the Greater Capital Region has relocated its River Street location to the private college campus.
The organization says it will expand its after-school program.
Sage students will serve as mentors for girls learning science, technology, engineering, arts, and math skills.
Girls Inc.’s incoming board director Bria Barnes-Coleman made the announcement at a ceremony.
“We are doing more than just providing educational opportunities. We are allowing the girls to see themselves in higher education well before they'd have to stress about inflation applications or tuition fees,” Barnes-Coleman said.
Girls Inc. of the Greater Capital Region also serves youth in Albany and Schenectady. Organization CEO Ashli Fragomeni, who is also a Sage adjunct instructor, said the collaboration is opening doors.
“The Russell Sage students on the Troy and Albany campuses will be working with our Eureka students to mentor them on a monthly basis, and then our Council of Women for Girls, made up of professionals in the area, will work with the college students and the high school students on both a monthly and quarterly basis,” Fragomeni said.
Troy Mayor Carmella Mantello, a Republican and the first woman to hold the post, says the new location expands on existing efforts.
“STEAM is such a big part of our curriculum of our Troy school district; Team Hero, which is a nonprofit for lower-income children, it's right over here on Fourth Street. They have embraced STEAM. They have a great partnership with RPI. So I look forward to expanding STEAM to many of our nonprofits,” Mantello said.
Troy Middle School seventh-grader Scarlet Crouse said Girls Inc. gave her the opportunity to connect with other girls at her same level.
“We learned about everything from human anatomy to dance to developing empathy and countless STEAM activities. Girls Inc. encourages their students to be leaders by building confidence and positive relationships among each other. They see each girl as an individual with their own strengths and talents and support them in all they can do,” Crouse said.
Crouse shared a favorite experience of hers, centered around a large doll of a video game character.
“Something I'll never forget is Zelda, our test dummy for learning about the human body. Zelda went through a lot over the course of the year, but it was all worth it when we got Zelda to make better choices,” Crouse said.
Daphne Johnson, a fellow seventh-grader at Troy Middle School, says her participation in Girls Inc. has helped her figure out a career path.
“We did acting, and also we've practiced on Zelda, and it also inspired me to want to be a doctor when I grow up, and an actress, and I just wanted to say that Girls Inc. is an amazing place for your girls to be,” Johnson said.
College president Matt Shaftel says the collaboration furthers the college’s original mission of female empowerment, adding it’s a fitting twist that the college’s founder, Margaret Sage, named the institution after her husband.
He did not believe in women's empowerment, he did not believe in the women's right to vote, and he did not believe in education for young women. And so, as soon as he passed, she immediately gave his money away to an institution devoted to those very ideals, the ideals of women's empowerment through education, of lifting up underrepresented voices and of changing and transforming communities for the better,” Shaftel said.
According to Shaftel, 62 percent of last year’s eligible seniors chose to attend college.
