A new program empowering girls at Cambridge Middle School is already making an impact in just its second year.
Students in Mrs. Hannon’s ROX class pose for a picture prior to class. They are wearing their ROX t-shirts. The ROX (Ruling Our eXperiences) was introduced to CMS last school year by veteran STEM teacher Angela Hannon. The mission of ROX is to create generations of confident girls who control their own relationships, experiences, decisions, and futures.
Hannon worked with a group of 15 girls last school year and has worked with two different groups of 10 girls this school year using the ROX curriculum to build confidence and provide tools so adolescent girls can better handle their own relationships, experiences, and situations.
“We help them to be assertive and be able to say what they need to say without worrying about the stigma that can be associated with being assertive,” Hannon said. “We go by a script that is provided and teach the girls to say things appropriately. They learn how to be assertive and eventually they don’t need a script.”
While the course teaches things like self-defense, it is focused on relationships and helping girls build confidence, social skills, and new connections with other girls their age.
Statistics show that 86 percent of girls who participate in ROX have higher levels of self-esteem and self-confidence; 9 in 10 feel safer and more confident that they can protect themselves; 78 percent have improved school attendance; and 63 percent experience a decrease in bullying and relational aggression.
Students from Mrs. Hannon’s first ROX class served on a panel at the Appalachian STEM Collaborative in February. “Situations are going to present themselves in our lives, whether it be what we want to be when we grow up, what classes we want to take, or maybe it someone that we love that is doing something that we don’t want them to do,” Hannon said. “We want the girls to be assertive and stick up for themselves, but to do that in an appropriate way.
“Empathy, understanding others, putting yourself in their shoes so you can handle what is happening,” are other skills that students learn according to Hannon.
ROX is a popular class at CMS, so much so that a second teacher, Lisa Taylor, was trained to be a ROX facilitator and is working with her own group of 10 girls who meet one day per week.
ROX classes are scheduled during the school day because meeting after school does present scheduling and ride challenges. ROX is offered as an elective and is proving to be a popular choice among Middle School girls.
“They are involved,” Hannon said. “I knew it would be hard to have this class after school, that’s why we do it during school. They know I’m going to be here every day when we have ROX, and their attendance is really good. Usually have 10 out of 10.”
Hannon hopes to expand the program next year allowing more young Cambridge Middle School girls to experience ROX.
About Ruling Our eXperiences, Inc. (ROX)
Ruling Our eXperiences, Inc. (ROX) is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization headquartered in Columbus, Ohio. The mission of ROX is to create generations of confident girls who control their own relationships, experiences, decisions, and futures.
ROX utilizes research and evidence-based programming to impact girls, educate and support the adult influencers in girls' lives and improve the societal conditions that have the potential to negatively impact girls. The in-school, professionally delivered empowerment program for girls in grades 5-12 is in more than 500 schools in 24 states, positively impacting tens of thousands of girls in its 10-year history.