HAWC, Curwin Circle summer camp gives young girls guidance

LYNN – One day last year, about 20 girls from the summer camp at Curwin Circle, run by Help for Abused Women and their Children (HAWC), went on a field trip to picturesque Crane’s Beach in Ipswich.For nearly all of them, it wasn’t a typical outing.”A lot of the girls thought we were out of state, but they loved it. They had so much fun,” said Mariah Williams, the HAWC youth outreach coordinator and director of the Lynn summer program that helps enrich the lives of girls who hail from mostly low-income families. “If these girls weren’t here at the camp, they might be home watching TV.”On Wednesday, nearly 20 girls between the ages of 7 and 12, and another 10 teenage counselors, spent part of the morning in the Curwin Circle recreation hall playing a game called Ships and Sailors. There was plenty of shrieking and laughter, as the girls formed into lifeboats or simulated man-overboard maneuvers. Most importantly, they worked in teams toward a mutual goal n to win the game.”That’s what this program is all about,” said Williams. “The girls come here 20 hours a week for camp-like activities. The counselors I hire serve as role models and mentors to the younger girls. They encourage them to be respectful to each other.”When the game was over, the girls read tributes to the most important person in their lives. Some chose to honor mothers or close relatives, others chose the peer leaders with whom they spend these special summer mornings.Each year, up to a dozen teenage girls are hired as peer leaders. The four-week program is preceded by a one-week training session. Throughout the four weeks, the peer leaders must constantly demonstrate safe and healthy behavior.”This program is based on a mentoring model, paired with the theme of empowering young girls,” said Williams, explaining that the peer leaders do all the planning and implementation of activities. “They structure the program. It’s my role to teach them leadership skills, workplace values, and the importance of seeing a project through from start to finish.”The peer leaders are students spread over five Lynn-area high schools. Among them, four languages are spoken. Like the girls they mentor, they range widely in creed and color, and most are blind to the differences.Williams is currently in her third summer as coordinator of the camp, which runs daily from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. and includes breakfast and lunch. She spends the academic year visiting schools along the North Shore where she lectures on teen dating violence, domestic violence, bullying and teasing.The First Jobs workforce development program and the city of Lynn jointly fund the summer camp. When summer is over, the recreation center at Curwin Circle remains open as an after-school program, funded through the Lynn Housing Authority and Neighborhood Development and overseen by Cathy Rowe, the agency’s youth services coordinator.