Enriching young women with positive formative experiences that replace obstacles with opportunities.
What We Do
Our goal is to initiate early, life-changing success by empowering our girls to reach their highest potential. Our programs are geared towards creating experiences for our students to lead to greater enrichment and empowerment.
Middle School
- Afterschool
- Summer Camp
- Individual Success Planning
High School – GrowU
- Weekly Enrichment Classes
- Summer Internships
- Individual Success Planning
We also offer in-school Leadership Groups.
Donate
Donors and supporters help foster young women by enabling GirlUp GVL to provide after-school programs, academic support, transportation, field trips, and other programs.
Volunteer
The support of our volunteers inspires the girls to discover their gifts, explore their talents and learn new skills, all while surrounded by love and encouragement.
GirlUp GVL on Instagram
“When I was in the class, I thought about that sheet. And I just accomplished one of my goals”
YES!!! This crew joined our friends @drivealerttrainingacademy for classroom instruction and to take their permit quiz. AND THEY ALL PASSED 🙌 for us, it’s not JUST doing driving classes. It’s all part of our Individual Success Planning where we take intentional time to meet with our students to map out their goals (through goal setting worksheets as mentioned above) and create additional opportunities (or find things around them!!) for them to reach these goals - and champion them along the way. Grateful for this wholistic approach at supporting our amazing girls 💕
**also - the reality of getting a good photo with a crew of teens 🤣**
Introducing our Spring 2023 interns, Caty and Sophia! They have been great additions to the GirlUp crew this semester! 💕
Caty is a junior Marketing major with a minor in Non-Profit Leadership, and Sophia is a senior Marketing major with minors in Women’s Leadership and Management!
Challenges are hard, but they’re easier to face when you have a friend by your side! Last Thursday, our friends from @cu_peerwise and @generalelectric tasked the girls with building a bridge out of popsicle sticks. While this caused some frustration, the girls never gave up and were able to work together to come up with a solution! 💕
We are SO PROUD and excited for @rebeccahayessss as she has been accepted into grad school @clemsonuniversity to become a school counselor!! At #GirlUpGVL, we desire to see everyone learn more about their gifts and talents and use them to reach their full potential. We can’t wait to see how she makes an impact in the future schools and students’ lives. *don’t worry, she’ll still be around supporting our programs in the meantime💕
Job shadowing day! A few of our girls were able to do some shadowing in the career fields they were interested in on Friday. One joined our friends @marleylilly to learn more about fashion and one joined @imagreenville to learn more about the medical field. These opportunities are so big in allowing our girls to see how their gifts and talents pair with their interest. Thanks @gcschools for allowing this to be a part of the school curriculum! 💕
THIS! This. This is #GirlUpGVL. On Tuesday our barista club visited our friends @bridgecitycoffee to practice what they have been learning and to prep to go live in a few weeks (stay tuned!). It just so happens a high school student who is forever a part of the GirlUp family was working that afternoon. She was able to use what all she has learned over the past year and half and help teach the younger girls! She has been excelling in her role at the coffee shop (which also started by going in and shadowing!) and we are so grateful for her helping with the younger crew. What makes this picture even more special is that they happen to be cousins. Full circle moment 💕💕💕
As Black History Month came to an end yesterday, the girls presented their “Powerful Women” projects. For this project, each girl chose one African American woman, who is still living, to research and determine how she makes an impact in her community. The girls chose women such as Ruby Bridges, Diana Ross, @serenawilliams, @tarajiphenson , @oprah , @amandascgorman , and @michelleobama. A lot of the girls learned new facts about the woman they chose. Through their research they looked for ways these women showed resilience. We are grateful for all of the strong women who have come before us! 💕
We went to visit @goodvibes_juicebar, a black owned smoothie and juice bar in Easley. The owner, Julian, made us feel welcome right away! He shared his story of how he started with the girls and encouraged them to “just start” any business ideas they had. The girls had business ideas ranging from opening a spa, doing hair, or becoming a therapist. We were able to try so many of their juices and smoothies, but the overall favorite was Black Lemonade. It is experiences like these that encourage our girls to dream big and to continue to work hard to get there! 💕
We spend time every Wednesday on fitness and mindfulness with our girls! This past Wednesday, we were joined by @jordankeels to do some partner yoga and take a mindfulness walk! The girls spent the first half of the time with their partner trying to stay balanced as they practiced different poses together. After getting all the giggles out, we went on a walk and practiced using our five senses to be in the moment. Studies show that many people who practice mindfulness have a greater enthusiasm for life and an improved self-esteem. We want to make sure we are giving our girls the practical tools to be the best version of themselves! 💕