This year, Bryn Mawr launched a thirteen-week Social Innovators Program through a partnership with The University of Pennsylvania School of Social Policy and Schoolyard Ventures, an organization that develops university-level, real-world learning opportunities for ambitious high school students.The program guided students in launching ventures of their own that would create value and positive impact on society. Upon completion of the course, Bryn Mawr students earned a Certificate in Social Entrepreneurship from the University of Pennsylvania. Read on to hear about two of the projects students created through the program.

Paper Doll Project
When Jingjing Xu ’22 heard that Bryn Mawr was partnering with the University of Pennsylvania to launch the Social Innovators Program, she knew it was a unique opportunity. “When I saw the email from Mr.Curtis, it really caught my eye,” said Jingjing. “In eighth grade, we went on a really amazing field trip to UPenn. It was so interesting and I learned a lot from the experience, so I felt this partnership was a special opportunity to start a business and learn from the best.”

The program began with a kickoff meeting at Bryn Mawr, and then students participated in weekly online sessions through a program that allowed them to join class remotely through video chat. During the 13 week program, JingJing created The Paper Doll Project, a series of paper doll books to promote body positivity and empower young girls.

She thought of the idea idea while completing one of the first assignments for the course. “We had to write a problem journal and go through the week and write down anything that annoyed us or where we saw a problem,” said Jingjing. “ In one of my classes, we watched a movie about how beauty and plastic surgery companies make money off of women’s insecurities, and I found it eye opening. It also touched on the idea of that insecurity starting with toys like Barbie, and I wrote that down as one of the big problems I really connected with because something a lot of people my age struggle with is self worth and love,” Jingjing said.

Once she had her problem, Jingjing worked to produce Aubree Dolls, a doll to promote body positivity, ambition and diversity. The dolls would have different body types, clothes, skin colors, stories and settings that span beyond the limited gendered spaces of modern girls’ toys. Initially, Jingjing wanted to create a whole new doll to counter Barbie, but realized that some already existed and have not become mainstream. She also learned through the process that creating an actual doll takes more than the 13 weeks she had, so when her instructor suggested paper dolls, Jingjing saw another opportunity. “I’m really into art and thought this was a great opportunity to be more creative and make a change because I loved paper doll books when I was young.”

JingJing says that as she was creating her paper dolls, she tried to keep in mind her experience as a young girl, and make sure Aubree Dolls were inclusive. “I played with Barbies, and all my dolls had blonde hair. I still enjoyed playing with them but found they didn’t really represent me,” said Jingjing. “For one of my birthdays, I got an American Girl Doll and was so excited because she was an Asian American doll. All American Girls come with so many accessories, so I looked but I couldn't find any for my doll. I read her story, and it turned out that she was the best friend of another main doll and was an accessory for that doll, so she didn’t have her own things. I remember feeling that it was so inaccurate, so I wanted to make my project about more than beauty standards but also representation.”

At the end of the course, Jingjing was able to create a prototype for one paper doll, but says her vision is to have a collection of diverse dolls with stories behind them. Her prototype for the athletic body type is a woman who works at NASA and her hobby is bodybuilding. She used Fiverr, a marketplace for entrepreneurs on a budget to connect with designers and people who offer freelance services around the world. She found an artist from Egypt who makes realistic paper doll designs and hired her. Jingjing says learning how the process works was really eye opening. “I would tell her my vision and she would make the designs for me. I didn’t mention race, so she automatically set the default to white which is interesting, but I’m going to have a variety of races and learned how to become more clear in my communication from this process.”

In addition to improving her communication skills, Jingjing says she learned about how businesses are funded through investors and about the importance of networking. “This program really got me into the mindset of the real world. UPenn funded everything we needed for the 13 weeks as long as we could show how we would use it. They really offered us a lot of support— my advisor even said she would personally fund my project in the future so I’m still working with her.” In addition to personalized guidance and support from the Schoolyard Ventures team, students had two hours per week available to them after school for on-campus group discussions, support, and coursework in our Innovation Lab.

Jingjing says that after participating in the Social Innovators Program, she chose Bryn Mawr’s Stem and Entrepreneurship Personalized Pathway. “This program made me realize that I really enjoy doing this kind of work and this is where my interests are, so I hope to explore that more in my pathway.”
 
EcoGlamorous
Alexis Alton and Kaitlyn Leitherer ‘22 say meeting new people was their initial motivation for signing up for the Social Innovators program. “We’re both freshman, so we’re always trying to find new ways to branch out and get involved in all the Upper School has to offer,” said Alton. “This was a really unique opportunity to not only get to know more people from Bryn Mawr, but other schools as well because each cohort has five to eight people in a group from Bryn Mawr, Gilman and other schools in Pennsylvania and along the east coast.”

Leitherer says that in addition to meeting people, the pair also wanted to get outside of their comfort zones. “We’d never taken a class like this in Middle School, so I was really nervous, but thought why not try it and see. We had to apply and learn to prepare for an interview and then we were in class talking with college students, so it was great preparation for the real world.” Alton says that at first she was intimidated by the task of creating her own business and thinking like an entrepreneur, but with the support of her teachers and resources at Bryn Mawr, she was actually prepared. “Our group and all the teachers were so engaging and fun,” said Alton. “They really guide you through it to help you become successful and there were really no rules so we were free to be creative.”

Their creation, EcoGlamorous was exactly that. They planned and executed a healthy haircare and sustainable living retreat at Bryn Mawr on April 29 for the whole school and created a website with information and tips for staying healthy and sustainable. The goal of the event was to promote eco-friendly beauty products and waste reduction. Leitherer says that being an Eco representative really pushed her to be more involved in environmental causes. “ I think we use so many products every day and don’t even know what is in there, we also produce a lot of waste, so our project was about education and also making a change.”

Leitherer and Alton created an Instagram page where they posted “tips and tricks to live greener and cleaner” leading up to the event. They also created a website which gave them experience with web design, met with business owners to get vendors for their event, and learned how to create a media kit. In the end, they were able to get businesses to donate their time and services to the event. The first fifty attendees received free samples from Innersense Organic Beauty, Wild Kombucha gave away free Kombucha, Crafted Hair Studio provided free hair cuts, and other businesses donated raffle baskets and gift cards.

Leitherer credits her Bryn Mawr teachers for being supportive of her involvement in the program, and for helping make EcoGlamorous a success. “Ms. Fetting and other teachers who were not even involved in the UPenn program really helped us organize it all and were so supportive. Our program instructors also prepared us really well and taught us a lot about entrepreneurship so we were confident and went into it as business people not just students,” Leitherer said.

Both Leitherer and Alton say they wish there was a second level to the program and hope Bryn Mawr can continue this partnership so that they can go more in depth into learning about entrepreneurship. “We made a lot of friends and have so many connections now,” Alton said. “ I feel so prepared after this that I feel like I could do this right now as my real job.”
To learn more about EcoGlamorous visit: https://www.ecoglamorousevent.com/ and follow them @ecoglamorous
 
Located in Baltimore, Maryland, The Bryn Mawr School is a private all-girls pre-kindergarten, elementary, middle and high school with a coed preschool for ages 2 months through 5 years. Bryn Mawr provides students with exceptional educational opportunities on a beautiful 26-acre campus within the city limits. Inquisitive girls, excellent teaching, strong student-teacher relationships and a clear mission sustain our vibrant school community where girls always come first.