Just two short years after its inception, a Pickerington-based effort to improve girls’ senses of self-worth has gone statewide and is developing national ambitions.
The Butterfly Project was founded in spring 2012 by a group of girls at Pickerington High School Central. Then a sophomore, Shayna Fowler was inspired to spearhead the effort when she saw a classmate – whom Fowler regarded as smart and optimistic – had called herself an insulting name on Twitter and wondered what would motivate the girl to do that.
“I knew her to be incredibly artistic and funny and kind, so for her to see herself as something so unkind shocked me,” Fowler says.
That led Fowler to wonder why so many other girls her age had been led to believe – by their families, their peers, the media or themselves – they were worthless. After a conversation with a mentor about how to respond, she joined forces with some of her classmates and organized an assembly at Central to remind their peers that they all have worth – that they are “valuable, lovable, capable and beautiful,” Fowler says.
Though building girls’ self-confidence is at the core of the project’s mission, its focus goes beyond that. It addresses the problems that may be faced by those who lack that self-confidence, human trafficking chief among them.
To that end, as part of the presentation, organizers brought in a speaker: Marlene Carson, founder of Rahab’s Hideaway, a central Ohio organization that helps people escape from human trafficking situations. Carson is a survivor of trafficking herself, and she knows firsthand the effect low self-esteem can have – when forced by her pimp to scout new prostitute prospects, she was specifically told to target those who did not appear to believe in themselves.
After the initial presentation at Central, project members took their show on the road to elementary, middle and high schools all around Ohio, reaching an estimated 13,000-plus girls. They’ve also spoken at conferences in multiple states and three other countries.
After Carson speaks, attendees are encouraged to build each other up and feel more positive about themselves. There’s also a session called “boundary breaking:” hard questions on how girls treat each other and why.
Other topics addressed by the Butterfly Project include abusive relationships, eating disorders, bullying and self-harm.
Though Fowler has been a driving force behind the project, she is no longer a student at Central, having graduated in the spring. And soon, she won’t be on hand to give presentations; she leaves in September for Kenya, where she will spend 10 months working at a rescue center while getting the first year of her college education – and spreading the project into an all-girls school in Kaimosi.
Sophomore Holly Hollopeter will take over as head of the Butterfly Project at the start of the 2014-15 school year. Hollopeter joined about a year and a half ago out of a passion for helping her peers, and that same passion is driving her now that she’ll be leading the project, she says, and overseeing the next step in its evolution.
“We’ve been able to build an organization that is hopefully going nationwide in the next year,” she says.
The plan is to put together a package of materials – “Butterflies in a Box” – that can be used to hold a presentation and start a club at any school, Hollopeter says. For now, the program is subject to its members’ time and travel limitations.
The core group of organizers is 15-20 people, but new groups usually spring up at the schools the project visits. Fowler estimates the overall number between 300 and 500, and Hollopeter emphasizes the importance of starting programs at the schools visited.
“In the end, what we say is only the driving force,” says Hollopeter.
It’s tough to quantify how many girls have been helped in some way by the presentations, Hollopeter says, but there have been tangible results: Nine central Ohio girls have been rescued from lives of human trafficking. Carson works with the FBI and local police departments to rescue girls who want out.
“Girls have come to us and said, ‘Hey, my mom is pimping me out,’” Fowler says. The assemblies provide “an environment where they feel that they can be honest.”
School officials have lauded the effect of the project and the dedication of the students behind it.
“It’s had an incredible impact not only here at Central, but at area high schools, middle schools and junior highs as well,” says Stacy Tennenbaum, principal at Central. “It’s done an incredible thing with our female students to improve self-esteem (and) confidence.”
In fall 2013, the Butterfly Project gained national attention when members produced an entry for a Good Morning America contest that challenged students to make videos set to Katy Perry’s song “Roar.” Fowler and fellow senior Darby Burch took the lead in putting together the video, which featured the stories of students celebrating triumphs such as beating cancer and surviving bullying, each preceded by the line “I am a champion of…”
Though the video wasn’t the big winner, it did make it to the top five, garnering the school a visit from the show in October.
“We got to have the whole … community come together,” Tennenbaum says.
The project is also working to launch a jewelry line, selling products made by women in areas at high risk for trafficking. Central graduate and project member Regan Hanood recently traveled to Haiti to get the program started.
Further information on the Butterfly Project can be found at www.projectbutterflychange.com.
Garth Bishop is editor of Pickerington Magazine. Feedback welcome at gbishop@cityscenemediagroup.com.
