Girls Can & Rise STEM Academy for Girls Move Together

Title: Girls Can & Rise STEM Academy for girls Move Together Abstract: Rates of physical activity among girls start to decline as early as age seven, highlighting the pressing need to begin promoting physical activity before adolescence. Only 21.6% of non-Hispanic Black and 19.9% of Hispanic youth are meeting physical activity guidelines compared to 24.4% of White youth aged 6 – 17 years. Girls Can! was designed using evidence-based research on physical literacy and physical activity role modeling to close the gap in physical activity participation between boys and girls. In the 2021-22 school year, we are implementing our Girls Can program at Rise STEM Academy for girls, a new public school in our community with a diverse student body. These grant funds would support the participation of all Rise scholars (~200 K – 3rd grade girls) in the Girls Can program for the 21-22 academic year. Our monthly, in-school programming will expose girls to different types of physical activity while they participate alongside college-aged active female role models (i.e., Movement Mentors). Parents of Girls Can participants have the opportunity to receive a physical literacy evaluation for their child, resources for promoting physical activity at home, and invitations to events to promote family physical activity role modeling. We will use quantitative surveys and qualitative listening sessions to evaluate program effectiveness and the experience of participants, Movement Mentors, parents, and Rise STEM Academy teachers and administrators. Outcomes of interest include participation rates, satisfaction with events and activities, and the experience and impact of the program.