Women's Initiative takes off at KMS

Killington Mountain School has made it part of its mission to be mindful of what it means to be a female student at an athletic academy and continually aims to evolve its offerings to best meet the needs of its female population. Things like the creation of a girls' lounge and the implementation of the Girls' Night Out program are just some ways that the school has strived to address the needs of the female students. This school year, the girls, under the guidance of Skye Whitehurst, Meghan Cleason, and April Hayden, chose to morph the Girls Night Out group into the Women's Initiative, which is a time when the entire female population at KMS can come together to have dinner, enjoy time as a group, host guest speakers, and essentially, spend some time bonding and having fun.

Mazie Hayden and EK Robinson-Leith took things a step further and created the KMS Care Bear Program which was launched December 19th at the first Women's Initiative meeting. The Care Bear Program is a big-sister/little-sister group, whose aim is to help ensure a comfortable and supportive environment for new and returning girls at KMS. The goal is to make sure that each girl at KMS has someone they can talk to or turn to with any issues or questions.

At Tuesday's meeting, the EK and Mazie facilitated ice breaker games, announced the pairings of big and little sisters, and then everyone took part in a Secret Santa gift exchange. Long term goals of the group are to host speakers and workshops, and to ensure that outside the group's meetings, the big sisters continue to check in on their young charges and help them navigate the KMS experience. Plans are also in the works for the boys at KMS to create a similar program, with the goal of the older male students helping to mentor the younger gentleman on campus.