Girls on Track: 6th-8th Grade Girls

The Girls on the Run® curriculum has been in use since the fall of 1996. Since that time, thousands of girls have been through the program. What we soon discovered is that girls were having so much fun and getting so connected, that they wanted something that would carry them through middle school. We originally wanted to call it Girls on the Run for Middle Schoolers. The girls who were participating told us they wanted something they could call their own. Hence the birth of Girls on Track.

The principal philosophies and psychological research for both programs are the same, yet the depth of processing the topics varies with the two different curricula. We can go into more targeted and age-appropriate discussion regarding certain topics (eating disorders, tobacco and alcohol use, personal/internet safety and harassment, to name a few) with the middle school participants, whereas with the younger girls the discussion remains a bit more vague or may not occur at all.

Our brand new Girls on Track curriculum just launched in 2009 is now in use across the country!  Specifically geared toward middle school girls, it provides the tools to take on the many challenges of this time of life. As with all Girls on the Run® programming, what rests at our center is the belief that our girls have the wisdom to make decisions that will intentionally lead them toward a path of wholeness, fulfillment and seeking their greatest potential. What often interferes are the conflicting messages that they receive about what it means to be a girl in our society. The Girls on Track curriculum provides a girl with the skills to shut out the noise of an external world that is attempting to limit who she is and to instead listen to her individual truth – the one that will lead her toward an enriching and contented life.

Self-Care, Self-Awareness, Knowing Self
Lesson One: Getting to Know Each Other
Lesson Two: Understanding the Girl Box
Lesson Three: Learning to Deal: Minimizing Daily Stress
Lesson Four: It’s All About Balance
Lesson Five: Nutrition and Healthy Eating
Lesson Six: Empowered Bodies
Lesson Seven: Emotional Health: All Filled Up!
Lesson Eight: Centering: the Importance of Slowing Down
Lesson Nine: Gratitude: Celebrating our Bodies our Minds and our Spirits

Selecting Healthy Relationships and Keeping Them Healthy
Lesson Ten: Conflict Resolution and Standing up For Myself
Lesson Eleven: Collaborative Leadership
Lesson Twelve: Peer Pressure/Alcohol, Tobacco and other Drugs
Lesson Thirteen: Gossiping and Bullying: Power vs. power
Lesson Fourteen: Cruising and Using the Internet
Lesson Fifteen: Romantic Relationships/Dating
Lesson Sixteen: Running a 5k!

Empowerment: Celebrating and SHARING Our Strengths
Lesson Seventeen: Tuning into a New Message (Combating the temptation to go into the Girl Box)
Lesson Eighteen: Community Service Project
Lesson Nineteen: Community Service Project
Lesson Twenty: Passing the Baton: How we serve as empowered role models to other girls

Outside of regularly scheduled program time: The Final Celebration!