Girls Drive Innovation Amid School Shootings

Getting through unlocked doors at school?

Guess what? It isn’t unique to Marjory Stoneman Douglas High in Parkland, Florida.

This past week, during our live Girls With Impact class, we had a powerful conversation that revealed how these teen girls are not just preparing for college and careers as CEOs, they're shaping safety policy and innovation.

“Most entrances are always locked,” 15-year-old Megan Loiz of Notre Dame in Fairfield, Connecticut told me (watch Megan share her Girls With Impact business venture). “But one friend said that every morning, she comes in through a side door and that’s how she gets in. We need to lock those doors so that everyone comes through one entrance with a metal detector.”

After talking about prototyping their project ideas and refining their business plan, we turned to the topic of school safety. And what I heard was, frankly, surprising.

Nearly all girls – 80% -- told Girls With Impact they do not feel safe at school.

More surprising was that three girls reported incidents at their school just this week, calling for lock downs or police visits.

How can we leverage the intelligence and maturity of these young women to drive answers?

These girls are the answer -- not just in shaping safe policies – but in creating new innovations for a digital age. 

Anika Gupta, a 15-year-old, is working on her venture, Case Aid (below and also in video). The idea was developed over the 12-week program delivered live, online with expert. Having gone from idea to business plan, she’s working to create one-touch emergency help for anyone.

All of these girls are part of a new program called Girls with Impact – where they are not only building critical business and entrepreneurial skills for their college and career success, but provide the kind of support lacking in schools and at home.

Signs of depression among teens have surged 33% from 2010-2015, says Jean Twenge, professor of psychology at U.C. San Diego. Depression among teen females is far worse – developed twice as often as men.

Worse, the numbers of teens ages 13-18 who committed suicide jumped 33% - with one death every 100 minutes.  And these teens come from all walks – rich, poor, white and non-white.

In a digital age, we need digital solutions and we need to listen to our youth. This includes:

·     Providing platforms for problem solving – Teens often say “they’re bored.” Programs like Girls with Impact enable them to take classroom learning and apply it to real-world problems. At the same time, they’re confidence in leadership and business skills have jumped by 120% and 40% respectively – not to mention their job networks. 

·     Creating alternative support systems – Too often, parents cannot get timely psychological help needed for their child because of a clogged system. Just the other week, Debra, a mother who just lost her son in a terrible car accident, called to say her daughter would be back in our all-girls online class: “Programs like this are so needed,” she told me, as an outlet for her daughter during her grieving period. We’ve also seen a boost in handling rejection – 57% of girls more confident they can manage it.

·     Talking up Safety – Megan and her classmates voiced what could easily have been ignored: “No one takes lockdown drills seriously; we’re on our phones,” she said. “That’s not beneficial for learning.” Conversations with teachers and at home will reveal insights that need to be taken seriously and acted upon.

With new digital capabilities, we need to get tougher and smarter on prevention and leverage tech-enabled capabilities – from real-time data and social media monitoring to AI (automated intelligence) and blockchain. As one example digital maps of emergency scenes – the kind that contributed to Osama bin Laden’s killing -- are now being used in schools in California and some schools are using social media monitoring to raise flags.

Do you think we need to listen to young people more for safety policy insights?

Are you surprised by what these young women are saying and creating?

Girls With Impact is accepting applications now.