Through collaborating with peers, learning from mentors and engaging in other leadership-oriented activities, middle schoolers progress into high schoolers, eager to discover their place in the world.
One youth-centric program serving Pickerington and other areas of central and southeastern Ohio has established a reputation for positively impacting and inspiring girls. This year, boys will get the chance to participate in their own version of the program for the first time.
Reasons to retreat
inspiHER/FORGE
The inspiHER Girls Leadership Foundation began in 2018 and quickly attracted attendees from across the state.
The Foundation puts on a day-long retreat consisting of listening to educational guest speeches – such as representatives from Nationwide Children’s Hospital – collaborating with peers through leadership-related breakout activities and writing for prompts in take-home journals to use as a resource into the future.
Aside from the journals, participants also receive a breakfast and lunch, a t-shirt, yoga mat, fitness tool and an informational packet from the speaker session.
Retreats typically include around 150 middle school girls, split into groups of seven or eight that are led by a high schooler. The retreats have been very popular, says inspiHER Founder and Executive Director Jodi Ranegar, as several past retreats have sold out.
Many of the girls who participate benefit in significant ways after completing the program. One parent shared with Ranegar that her sixth-grade daughter had never been on the school bus before, and rode it with the confidence she gained at the retreat.
Seventh grader Kaitlynn Mauck participated in the retreat, and now serves as a regular speaker. She recently competed in Germany and the Empire Games in Lake Placid from her involvment with the Team USA Luge Junior Development Team after being inspired by guest speaker Olympian Ashley Farquharson when she went on a retreat.
“(She) came and spoke to the girls about chasing their dreams,” Ranegar says.
For the boys
inspiHER/FORGE
As the need inspiHER grew, so did the impetus for an equivalent program for boys.
Ranegar, a “boy mom” herself, started hearing more desire for it after the pandemic. She says mental health issues and suicide rates have risen in boys of various ages. Grandparents of girl participants and other older men in the community also communicated a need for a program for the boys to Ranegar.
“We see more and more grandparents raising kids,” Ranegar says. “They say there’s a need to put role models in front of young boys, because the role models aren't there like they were in the past.”
In 2024, alongside a team of about five people, Ranegar developed the FORGE Summit for boys. The inaugural event will take place in Gallia County on March 21.
inspiHER/FORGE
The program focuses on similar values for the girls, but FORGE adheres to an acronym: Focus, Opportunities, Respect, Grit and Excellence.
“FORGE is meant to help boys learn about setting goals, knowing the differences between good choices and poor choices, and respecting themselves and others,” Ranegar says.
Boys will also keep a journal and other merchandise from the free event. In addition, the summit will give them a book geared toward personal development for young men.
Similar to its predecessor, FORGE will host a session led by local parents and a visit from the county sheriff's department.
Jim Osborne, a Gallia County local, will speak at the inaugural summit about how boys can raise strength, confidence and resilience within themselves. Other guests will be Mark Anthony Garrett, a national motivational speaker and author of several self-help books, as well as local leaders from around Gallia County.
To build interest for FORGE, Ranegar says that team members began doing outreach to boys at schools in Gallia County and received positive feedback.
The personal approach
inspiHER/FORGE
By designing the program with community partnerships from where the retreat occurs, inspiHER and FORGE have been able to fully fund the experience for every participant. Ranegar estimates the total cost would be $10,000 per individual retreat without this support.
“For our founding sponsors, we typically seek through community organizations that support us, and then we are applying for different grants as well,” Ranegar says. “Typically, when we go out, and we ask to connect with organizations, almost all say yes in some way of supporting this because they see the impact it's had.”
High school girls who served at initial retreats, as well as grandfathers and other men who advocate for young men, have told Ranegar they “wished they had this in junior high.” Ranegar says the mentorship role intrigues high schoolers because it shows a more unique experience on resumes and college applications and earns them up to 15 hours of community service.
School officials, such as counselors, as well as families, help spread the word about the programs as an effective, beneficial opportunity for girls and boys. The retreats often host parents to volunteer, give speeches and sit in on guest lectures themselves. Afterward, they often reach out to Ranegar to talk about their child’s achievements.
“The women will say ‘I needed this’ and they’re taking notes alongside a fifth-grade little girl,” Ranegar says. “We’ve had success everywhere. It’s a universal goodness.”
The future of FORGE
inspiHER/FORGE
Ranegar expects the first FORGE summit to be at capacity, based on the popularity of the inspiHER retreats so far. FORGE plans to expand into Fairfield and Hocking counties in 2027.
“We can only base our data off of the girls group, but for the boys, we've gotten such an overwhelming response because we have history and people know what inspiHER’s about,” Ranegar says. “People asked for so long for the boys, and that momentum is still there.”
Looking ahead, Ranegar hopes to continue the success of inspiHER while building up FORGE, a positive institution for girls and boys alike.
Evan Che Stefanik is an editorial assistant at CityScene Media Group. Feedback is welcome at feedback@cityscenemediagroup.com.
