I work at an amazing non-profit for girls living in Appalachia. High Rocks for Girls puts on summer camps, provides tutoring services, sponsors college tour trips, throws music festivals, has an internship program for women in college, sponsors community beautification events, and so much more.

High Rocks was founded on the principal that all girls are gifted, that girls in this area face some really challenging things when in high school, and that the women in this community all have the power to create change.

It's hard to reduce the entire movement that is High Rocks into a single post, so for this one, I'll focus on our upcoming camp, Camp Steele.

Camp Steele is named after Virginia Steele, a woman who helped start and was a generous benefactor to High Rocks. In fact, I, and all other interns, live in her old house during the summer of our internship. Camp Steele is for girls who have just completed 9th - 12th grades. The girls have the chance to sign up for different "tracks"-- classes that run for about 4 hours a day. This year they have the chance to participate in either a construction/building, environmental sustainability, "Golden Mean" math and art, filmmaking, or entrepreneurship tracks. The girls also go to a "Girls Group" where they talk about their emotional selves and have the opprotunity to discuss difficult issues, such as sex or drugs, in an open and honest way with caring and brilliant staff members. The girls are given 3 square meals a day, with vegetarian options and lots of organic and locally grown food. There is a campfire every night where we sing and they read what they wrote during the day and we act out skits. They sleep in three-wall shelters and are read to and tucked in every night by staff.

And every girl attends this camp completely free of charge. In fact, their financial background is not considered at all; the wealthiest and the poorest are each equally welcomed.

I'm in love with High Rocks, so look forward to more High Rocks posts from me. And PLEASE, check out their website! Apply for an internship! You could even donate money! But, if nothing else, go read and learn about an awesome social movement happening in West Virginia.

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