Girls Inc. marks 50 years of boldness

Deepa Bharath

Audrey Azevedo’s voice gets all dreamy when she’s talking about the

planets.

“I love reading about the planets,” the fifth-grader at Kaiser

Elementary school said. “I love little Pluto, you know, and Saturn

with all those colorful rings.”

But little Audrey is not too sure she wants to venture into outer

space.

“It’s just that I have a fear of heights,” she said,

apologetically. “But I guess I could study the planets from down

here.”

Audrey has spent much of her time after school at Girls Inc. in

Costa Mesa for the last six years, which is most of her young life.

“I learn so much here, and I have a lot of fun, too,” she said.

“It’s going to make me a strong, smart, bold girl.”

And that in a nutshell is the reason the Costa Mesa nonprofit has

existed for the last 50 years, said its executive director Lucy

Santana. The organization, which now has 26 sites in four school

districts, will celebrate its 50th anniversary tonight with a special

dinner at the Hyatt Regency in Irvine, she said.

Girls Inc. usually has an October luncheon, which serves as a

fundraiser for the organization, but this year, it’ll be a special

event to mark a significant milestone, Santana said. The keynote

speaker at the event will be Sally Ride, the first American woman

astronaut to travel into outer space.

Girls Inc. has come a long way, Santana said.

“We started off in a little mobile hut here,” she said. “Today, we

serve 1,800 girls countywide and 40 girls in our Costa Mesa

facility.”

Girls between 5 and 18 can participate in a variety of programs

aimed at improving their self-esteem and giving them the tools to

face the world, Santana said.

“We encourage girls to explore nontraditional careers and try to

give them the skills they need to be self-sufficient,” she said.

The organization also helps build a support system for the girls

in an era when body image, teen pregnancies and dropping out of

school are major issues, Santana said.

“We’re there to help them overcome challenges at home or school,”

she said.

Girls Inc. plans to expand into South Orange County in the next

few months to years, Santana said.

Leyla Szilagyi, a fourth-grader at Victoria Elementary, will speak

about her experiences with the organization at tonight’s event.

“I’m nervous,” she said. “But I’m glad I got the opportunity to go

up there and tell people what Girls Inc. has taught me.”

Leyla said she has learned that boys and girls are equal.

“I don’t know what I want to be yet,” she said. “But whatever I

do, I know I’ll be a strong, smart, bold girl for the rest of my

life.”

* DEEPA BHARATH is the enterprise and general assignment reporter.

She may be reached at (714) 966-4625 or by e-mail at

deepa.bharath@latimes.com.