Mrs. Brewley-George with her group of proud students at the closing ceremony of the Little Speakers' Touch "SHAPE UP" Life Skills Programme.

Some of the students displaying their public speaking skills.

Last evening April 14, 2012 at the closing ceremony for Little Speaker's Touch "SHAPE-UP" Life Skills programme, Founder Stephanie Brewley-George was overwhelmed with the changes she witnessed in the young ladies, after only working with them for two weeks.

Areas of focus during the programme were Best Public Speaking Practices, Leadership and Development, Table Etiquette and Setting and Dressing for Success. The students had to demonstrate what they were taught on stage.

“I felt overwhelmed with joy because I realised that these young ladies have a lot of potential once given an opportunity to do what they can do. Over the two weeks, once we help them to define who they were, we call it the “I am” Principle, they were better able to gage their energies into their future aspirations, into becoming more confident in who they are,” said the very proud Founder Mrs. Brewley-George.

Mrs. Brewley-George said the girls really made her proud as they displayed traits of their real selves. "I feel they are creative, and though they may have issues we will not go into, they just need a hand to help them and someone to understand what they are going through at this time, such as peer pressure, hormonal changes and so forth. They just need someone they can trust and talk to and will not judge them and give a motivating word every now and again.”

Speaking specifically to the actual programme, the Founder said it exceeded her expectation and noted her satisfaction in how the girls demonstrated their skills in the Table Setting and Table Etiquette session, though it was tedious for them.

“I thought they were going to be bored but going to Scrub Island they had a lot of fun, they had to set the dining table etc. They became tired and frustrated. It gave them an opportunity to appreciate the field of serving and an appreciation of how to serve and dine,” she explained.

Regarding dressing for success, she said the young ladies were challenged to come up with an activity that would allow them to display in a creative way what they learnt in two weeks, and they came up with plays and monologs and it was the area she saw the most creativity.

As for public speaking, Mrs. Brewley-George acknowledged that while the young ladies were not used to utilising proper public speaking practice, they tried their best to hone in their basic skills and exhibit the “best they could last evening.”

According to her, one of the lessons they had and which was given to them by the Director of Communications Arleene T. Penn, was to write a two-page essay on Leadership and Development, and Effective Communication. The top three essays will be published in the media.

This is not the end of Little Speaker's Touch as Mrs. Brewley-George explained that the sessions would continue in the summer along with a new session specifically for the boys. “We will have a series of summer programmes, but Shape Up during Easter Break will always be for girls. We will bring to other centers in the community and extend as far as I can.”

Giving a synopsis of how it all started, the Founder, who said she loves to speak, said she saw a number of youths needed more than what they are getting on a consistent basis and rather than just talking about the youths going down the drain she decided to do something.

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“I needed to start the fire so people can catch on and join the band wagon so the kids can have continuous support. They need to have a positive set of patterns throughout the year so that they are reminded that they can be better off than what we are hearing in the statistics. I want to see a better BVI, a better generation,” said the Virgin Islander motivational speaker.

The Founder took time out to thank all parents and sponsors of the event including First District Representative Hon. Andrew Fahie who she said was very instrumental in ensuring the programme ran smoothly and giving in a big way.

Meanwhile, the cohort of the 2012 “SHAPE UP” programme will be hosting a fundraising event on April 20, 2012 at Governor House to “give back to their community in a big way”. Proceeds would go towards the Save the Seed Foundation. At that event, the 52 youths will receive their official certificates from Governor Boyd McCleary.