In December of last year, the United Nations General Assembly formally declared October 11 as the International Day of the Girl Child – an annual day to bring world focus to the unique challenges that girls face in their everyday lives.

Last Thursday SMS students and staff observed the first-ever Day of the Girl. We were joined by four young girls from Plan Canada’s Because I am a Girl Speakers Bureau – Alisha, Maneesa, Julia and Adiba – who traveled to SMS from Toronto to speak and meet with our students.

During a school assembly, students in Grades 4-12 were each given a red card, green card or no card at all. The speakers asked all the girls with a green card to stand up – they represented the 70% of the world’s extreme poor that are women and girls. The speakers then asked all the girls with a red card to stand up – they represented the 17% of the world’s government officials and legislators that are women.

The young women spoke, girl to girl, about the challenges that affect girls here in Canada and around the world, and the importance of standing up for girls’ rights.

We celebrated girls as powerful agents of change, and learned how research has shown that when girls are educated, healthy and informed, they will not only improve their own lives, but the lives of everyone around them, lifting entire nations out of poverty.

Photos of our Day of the Girl events and the CTV news story are posted below.