Middle School

University of California, Los Angeles--established in 1992

Branch works with Mark Twain Middle School

UCLA WYSE was the first ever WYSE branch and currently works with girls from the Venice/MarVista area in Los Angeles. Their program originally started in San Fernando, a community with the highest teenage pregnancy rate in California that was later served by our CSUN WYSE branch. In the past, the UCLA WYSE branch has visited the Getty Museum to introduce arts and culture and attended a UCLA women's basketball game to support women in sports. For more information about the beginnings of the UCLA WYSE branch, read the WYSE Her Story.

University of Southern California--established in 1999

Branch works with Los Angeles Academy Middle School, George Washington Carver Middle School, and John Adams Middle School.

USC WYSE works with girls from the south Los Angeles area and is the only program simultaneously working with three different middle schools. The USC program has garnered much support from their University and the surrounding community. The branch collaborates with community rallies such as Take Bake the Night, a protest and forum to raise awareness and to help prevent various forms of violence against women.

Check us out at: http://www-scf.usc.edu/~wyse/

California State University, Northridge--established in 2000

Branch is currently inactive.

CSUN WYSE worked with girls from the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles. It was the first WYSE National Resource Office (NRO) initiated branch. The mentors at this branch challenged their mentees by having them create their own WYSE sessions where the girls obtained hands on experience in session planning and facilitation. They later developed a targeted mentor recruitment campaign in order to meet their community's demand.

California State University, Long Beach--established in 2001

Branch is currently inactive.

CSULB WYSE worked with girls from the Long Beach community in Los Angeles. The University and Women's Resource Center was very supportive of our program and was considering allowing mentors to use it as a service learning component of their coursework. To celebrate their inaugural semester's success, the mentors and mentees held an awards banquet made possible by the generosity of Ruby's Restaurant on the Huntington Beach Pier.

Yale University--established 1995

Yale WYSE works with eighth graders at Sheridan Middle School in New Haven, CT. The branch holds three separate groups each week, servicing much of the eighth grade class of girls, in addition to organizing special speakers and events throughout the year.

Harvard University Middle School Branch--established 1998

Branch works with Dearborn Middle School

Harvard WYSE works with girls from the Roxbury, Massachusetts community. The mentors have worked hard to develop sessions based the needs of the mentees. They have worked to include a large community action component to the program and are currently starting a pilot high school program at a high school that several middle school WYSE mentees will attend.

University of Chicago--established in 1996

U of Chicago WYSE works with girls from Little Village in Chicago, Illinois. They are the only branch with three different programs for the sixth, seventh and eighth grades that run concurrently. As a result, this branch has created many new activities that have been incorporated into the WYSE curriculum. The directors also regularly prepare and provide additional trainings throughout the year for their mentors on topics like conflict resolution and management. This branch has strong ties to the community and collaborates with other nonprofit organizations to cover such topics as gangs and violence.

Check us out at: http://wyse.uchicago.edu

Contact us at: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

New York University--established in 1999

Branch works with Secondary School of Law, Journalism and Research

NYU WYSE works with girls from the Park Slope community in New York. This branch had a difficult beginning in 2001 due to September 11th. However it gave them an opportunity to showcase the resilience of their mentors and mentees and have developed special mentoring events to improve the cohesion and communication in the group.

Occidental College--established in 2003

Branch works with Luther Burbank Middle School

OXY WYSE works with girls from the Highland Park Community in Los Angeles. The program has grown and gained popularity on this Liberal Arts campus. In 2006 they partnered with the Step Up Women's Network to put on a "Goddess Day."

University of California, Berkeley--established in 1995

The UC Berkeley branch of WYSE serves the Berkeley/Oakland community in Northern California, working with girls at Longfellow Middle School. Berkeley WYSE aims not only to help mentees make good decisions for themselves, but help them learn how to question and challenge the messages they get from all around about sex, love, their bodies, and being a woman. This past year, Berkeley WYSE developed a session addressing LGBT issues in middle school, and mentors and mentees alike developed the confidence to stand up to homophobia.

Stanford University--established 1998

Branch works with Edison-McNair Academy

Due to their work ethic and dedication to their mentees, Stanford WYSE has been able to secure great support for their program. The faculty and administration of Edison McNair are very supportive of the WYSE program, and Stanford University is allowing mentors to receive course credit for WYSE. The mentors at this branch have had guest presenters like Planned Parenthood come to speak with their mentees, and have been the recipients of the Stanford University Deans Award for Outstanding Service.·

University of California, Irvine--established 2003

Branch works with Portola Middle School

UCI WYSE works with girls from the community of Orange County. This is the only branch that does not receive funding from their university hence the mentors must fundraise the cost to put on the program. Fortunately, they have found a school that is supportive of them and is willing to share resources to insure success of the program.

Marquette University, Milwaukee, WI--established 2006

Our branch works with 6th-8th grade girls on the south side of Milwaukee at Bruce Guadalupe Middle School. Our branch has grown in unbelievable ways in the past few years: we started out with around 20-25 mentees our first year, and at the end of this year we had 56 mentees enrolled and consistently participating in WYSE, which encompasses nearly 50% of the girls attending the school. We’ve had our challenges in this and are currently working to recruit more mentors to balance our large mentee/mentor ratios. We were extremely fortunate to receive a LARGE financial donation from the University in support of our program, so we are gaining clout. We had some great ideas this year including bringing in a doctor to our Politics of Motherhood session and our banquet theme was Under the Sea. Our improvements for next year include a newsletter to connect the parents of mentees, mentors, and alumni of our branch with the current program. We are also working hard to have our first sleepover with our girls! The next year can only be better than the past few.

Bowdoin College, Brunswick, ME

This branch is the newest WYSE branch. More info coming soon!

Women and Youth Supporting Each Other

Search, View and Navigation

Program

Resources

Middle School