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by Katy McCormick OUR MISSION Girls on the Move, a special project of Outward Bound, is a cross-country bicycling expedition dedicated to celebrating and promoting physical, mental, and emotional health of girls and women. The ride will take place in the fall of 2000. Our mission is to celebrate the power of girls and to ignite the idea in communities across the country that girlhood can be an instrumental force in shaping the future. RIDERS The majority of the riders for Girls on the Move have been selected. They are phenomenal women spanning seven decades and ranging in age from 18-72 years old. The riders are architects, forest rangers, Outward Bound instructors, teachers, counselors, CEOs of companies, carpenters, mothers, marathon runners, program directors of camps, and Olympic athletes. We have fifty-five riders ready to ride and are still recruiting women of color. Since The Girls on the Move riders will be strong role models for girls, it is important that they represent all girls and women. Each rider is raising between $2,500-3,000 in scholarship money for girls and women to attend Outward Bound. To date, the riders have raised $20,000! TRAINING During the last week of April, the Girls on the Move riders will congregate in Atlanta for the official Girls on the Move Training. Riders that do not have an affiliation with Outward Bound will participate in a mini-Outward Bound experience. The entire team will participate in workshops focused on media relations, group facilitation, and bike maintenance. The weekend will include our first bike ride as a larger group. My guess is that you will feel the energy reverberate to your far off regions. GIRLS FESTIVALS Girls on the move will be hosting five Girls festivals in major city parks. Every festival will be a fun-filled day for all. We have a spectacular array of low-ropes initiatives and high-ropes climbing challenges planned for each of the Girls Festivals. The centerpiece of the Girls Festival will be the High Ropes Challenge Course, a combination climbing wall and ropes course. This unique one-of-a-kind design from Alpine Towers will provide an exciting opportunity for people to challenge themselves while visiting the festivals. During the last week of January, we erected the high ropes course in the yard of the North Carolina Outward Bound School offices. It was quite a sight and serves as a reminder that the event is not too far off. IMPORTANT DATES! Sept. 9: Kick Off Girls Festival at Cathedral Park in Portland,
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BOARD OF ADVISORS/SPONSORS On our Board we have athletes, celebrities, and others that are making a difference for girls through the work that they do. Some of the people who have recently joined us include: Jackie Joyner-Kersee, former Olympic track and field athlete: Meredith Vieira, hostess of the television program "The View"; Mia Hamm, Gold Medallist and Women's World Cup Champion; Kristine Lilly, Olympic Medallist and Women's World Cup Champion; Deborah Norville, Anchor, "Inside Edition"; Emmy Award winning Journalist Summer Sanders; Nickelodeon's "Figure It Out" host and NBC "Inside Stuff" Hostess, Olympic Gold Medallist, Swimmer; Picabo Street, Olympic Gold Medallist, Skier; Kerri Strug, Olympic Golf Medallist, Gymnast. We are also proud to be sponsored by Home Depot, Xerox-the Document Company, and Women's Sports and Fitness. EDUCATION PROJECTS/COMMUNITY STAYS Girls on the Move is partnering with Girls Scouts USA, Girls Incorporated and the YMCA for community stay projects throughout the ride. Recently, a Girls on the Move Girl Scout patch was developed! Many organization, families, individuals, and schools have offered to sponsor a meal for the riders, provide lodging, or have signed up for one of our interactive workshops. Girls on the Move is being received with open arms in all of the communities we have approached! We will project our mission to a greater extent by developing a Girls on the Move interactive website. We hope to use our website to provide an opportunity for schools to track our progress on a daily basis, access to the workshops and lesson plans we use, and provide an opportunity to read about a featured rider. Hopefully, teachers will be able to develop lesson plans around some of our information and people who are not able to support the ride in person can feel more a part of Girls on the Move. IMPORTANT DATE CHANGE Girls on the Move has become even bigger than expected. We have pushed the dates of the event back to September 9th, 2000, in Portland, Oregon. Please contact us at 1-800-437-6071 to be put on our mailing list, or check out our website at www.obgotm.com. You can also e-mail any of our staff:
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