Mentoring program aims to empower girls

LYNN – Sophie Alcindor greets you when you walk into a room.She looks you in the eye when you speak to her, and she speaks with an assuredness she said she hasn’t always felt.”I used to be really shy,” said the 11-year-old.That was before she joined La Chic Mentoring Plus. Founder Keisha Conigliaro is based in Beverly but runs her self-esteem classes for girls out of the Boys and Girls Club on North Common Street.”It’s about empowering girls, self-esteem and self-confidence, and helping them with those skills,” she said. “I give them the tools to stand up for themselves. I tell them not to let where you’re from define who you are.”Alcindor said before joining Conigliaro’s classes, she couldn’t speak in front of people without her hands shaking. Conigliaro taught her to focus. She also takes the girls on field trips, teaches them how to act in public, and basic manners, Alcindor said.”I’m glad I joined,” she said.James Irvin’s daughter, who is 13, is also in the program, and he said he’s noticed a difference.”I think what it does is encourage the girls to be more outspoken,” he said.At the same time, they are also learning to be courteous and how to interact with other people, he said.”It was a little rough around the edges at first but (Conigliaro) teaches you to be an effective communicator, better than the parents sometimes,” he said with a laugh. “I think it’s pretty good.”While Conigliaro schools girls in the finer points of being strong young women, Dr. Maru Colbert, an MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) engineer and founder of her own program for girls, Eductech, opens up another world for them.”I bring the math and science,” she said.Despite a STEM – science, technology, engineering and math – push in schools across the commonwealth, Colbert said there is still a need to make girls aware that they too can realize a career in those areas.She also spoke highly of Conigliaro’s program.”I will say my time is extremely tight ? I’m a scientist, I only work with programs that are really beneficial and I work with her,” she said, indicating Conigliaro.La Chic Mentoring Plus is currently only open for girls, but Conigliaro said she is not ruling out opening it up to boys in the future.”At some point I would like to incorporate boys,” she said. “But right now there is still a need just for young girls.”