“Mean Girls” isn’t just a 2004 movie title. For me, it’s a term that brings to mind a group of girls who profoundly impacted my life. I had a rough time in junior high and high school with girls my age behaving cruelly toward me. Now that I’m approaching adulthood, I understand that adolescence can create insecurity in teenagers and that can cause them to make decisions out of selfishness and insecurity. Even with that knowledge of why they behave this way…it was still quite painful to be on the receiving end. As a result of going through that ordeal, I developed rather debilitating social anxiety and profound mistrust in my peers. These bad experiences prompted me to want to actually do something about the problem in our society. To fight back in a positive way! I wanted to help encourage and teach young girls to love themselves and to lift other girls up as well. I found such an opportunity at my church as a junior high girls youth leader. Through my negative experiences, I have learned so much and I want to pass that knowledge on. It is so important to me that my junior high girls know their value and how to make others around them feel valued. Every person deserves to understand how unique and special they are. Unfortunately, in these current times, I find that it is very difficult to impart on junior high girls. Not only because of the way kids treat each other in junior high and high school but because of the constant messages and comparisons that social media pushes on their impressionable hearts. They are seeing and hearing hundreds of times a day… “Compare yourself to other girls.” “You are not good enough.” “You will never amount.” I view my past personal struggles as a testimony of faith. I believe I went through those negative experiences so that I may mentor my group of young girls to be kind inclusive people. I spend quality time with my girls each Sunday morning but it does not end there. I check on their concerns and struggles throughout the week while we are not together. I remind the girls to lean on each other and take care of one another as well. My phone is open to them 24/7 and sometimes it is an around-the-clock job. I love every minute of helping these girls get through their week until we meet again on Sunday morning. Together, we are flourishing. I am so happy and fulfilled because I am building up the next generation of girls with faith, strength, and confidence to be “nice girls!”