Duke Social Science Research Institute (SSRI) Research Scholar Deborah Hicks-Rogoff has been using her work to expand opportunities for young women in her home community of Appalachia. She serves as the founder and executive director of the Partnership for Appalachian Girls’ Education (PAGE) program, a partnership between Duke’s Program in Education, Madison County Public Schools and the communities of Spring Creek, Hot Springs and Laurel, North Carolina. PAGE creates opportunities for educational enrichment for young women through mentorship and summer programming.

This past summer, PAGE hosted Duke students who worked with PAGE staff to create educational enrichment opportunities. This program is a Bass Connections summer experience within the Education & Human Development theme.

The Duke students documented their experiences on a Tumblr site and personal blogs. Rebecca Trinklein ’17 reflected on empowering young girls to pursue a career in STEM through leading a program called STEM ECHO. ECHO, which stands for Each Chooses Her Own, is designed to continue the girls’ education through learning about food and nutrition, STEM, physical activity, music or art. Rebecca emphasized that the program is “doing far more than teaching girls technological skills and integrating them into the 21^st century digital economy. It is an empowering bonding experience, the creation of a community of young women who will grow up to be confident, self-assured leaders of the world.”

It is an empowering bonding experience, the creation of a community of young women who will grow up to be confident, self-assured leaders of the world.

Another Bass Connections student, Evangeline Marecki ’19, wrote about using the power of storytelling to help the girls find their voices. Evangeline described the process of digital storytelling as an endeavor that went “beyond any reflective pieces they may have written, but in the end, some pieces even reach the depth of a college personal statement.” Her experience was very personal, and Evangeline reflected on how she was “continually in awe of their vulnerability and humility when sharing impactful events in their lives and the stories, good and bad, that make up who they are.”

Anna Huck ’18 reflected on how PAGE acts a pipeline to TechHire, a policy initiative that brings high-quality technology jobs to rural areas in an effort to decrease poverty. Anna elaborated on how this pipeline operates stating that PAGE “teaches girls digital literacy skills and works to inspire them to continue learning more about STEM…and [they] are not only better equipped but also likely more interested in pursuing opportunities like TechHire.”

Lauren Blanchette ’17 shared her experiences mentoring the girls and how working with them changed her perception of Appalachia. Anna grew up a few hours’ drive from the mountains and she expected to find similarities with the girls. However, she found that in addition to these similarities, “there are also certain characteristics that make life for the residents of Madison County different than anything I have experienced.”

Learn More

• Read about the work of the PAGE program.
• Explore Bass Connections in Education & Human Development (new projects for 2017-18 will be announced on January 11).
• Find out how to get involved with Bass Connections.

Photos: Deborah Hicks-Rogoff working with a student; Appalachian town in North Carolina​; group learning in the PAGE program