Teenage girls talk at the Youth Center at Camp Zama, Japan, during the Smart Girls program, which teaches young women skills on many personal issues teenagers face. (Jim Schulz / S&S)
CAMP ZAMA, Japan — Sitting together on cushy sofas in the back of Camp Zama’s Youth Center, a half-dozen girls talked about self-esteem, boys and the stuff of life for teenage girls.
The group, which will meet weekly, is called Smart Girls — a Boys and Girls Club of America program that helps prepare girls for the obstacles and issues they someday might face.
The program gives them a chance to talk about problems, learn alternative solutions and see that the tribulations a teen faces are all part of life.
“We teach them how to be a woman,” said Hilary Allen, who leads the group with co-adviser Suchin Rice.
Over the next several Tuesdays, the group will discuss topics such as how to identify people to trust; the difference between sexual harassment, date violence and date rape; and nutrition and fitness.
For boys, the Youth Center features another Boys and Girls Club program called Passport to Manhood, a program that addresses similar issues, said Youth Center lead program assistant Robert Chance, who leads the boys’ program.
The Passport program instills boys with a sense of values and ethics, Chance said, including how to be honest and make decisions based on principles rather than peer pressure.
“The basic skills to be a man,” Chance said. “How to treat people, relationships and the Golden Rule” — do unto others as you would have done to you.
Both programs are part of the Youth Center’s emphasis this year on young people’s development. In addition to leadership clubs, technology and sports, the life-skills programs are designed to prepare youngsters for the challenges they soon will face.
Boys and Girls Clubs of America created the programs for stateside youngsters. In military communities, many topics are substituted. For example, there’s not a big gang problem on base, Chance noted, but family separation during deployments is common.
The programs are also as far from lectures as the staff can make them. They try to use discussions to encourage the teens.
“A lot of hands-on” involvement, Chance said. “If you don’t get them involved they get bored.”
The background and skills of the center’s staff helps the programs evolve.
“Kids need someone like us to talk to because we’re not friends but we’re not counselors. We’re something in between,” Allen said.
The groups hold up to 15 kids each. Chance said he plans to offer them each semester and hopefully create a better future environment for all.
“If I’m helping one kid learn to be a better person, that’s all it takes.”
