On March 8, to celebrate International Women's Day, the Women and Girls Foundation hosted a program called Girl Gov.

"We wanted to get women more involved in politics because we saw some statistics that said that Pennsylvania ranks 45th in percentage of women legislators. We decided to do something to show girls politics," said Skylar Jones, one of several Allegheny County teenagers who participated in a one-day trip to Harrisburg.

Girl Gov is part of the foundation's Regional Change Agents project, which operates in Allegheny, Washington, Fayette and Greene counties. In each county, students and adult women work together on a particular issue.

Besides Skylar, who attends North Allegheny School District, participants in Allegheny County's Regional Change Agents program are Meagan Corder of Avonworth, Vimbai Martin of The Ellis School and Katie Orr of Dorseyville Middle School, all of whom are teenagers.

The young women are working on women in leadership.

Students in grades eight through 12 had the opportunity to travel to Harrisburg for the day to shadow their state house representative or state senator. They spent the morning with legislators and also ate lunch with them. The girls also had seats on the House or Senate floor during session and attended a Government Affairs Committee meeting and vote.

The students participated in a meeting with Rep. Dan Frankel, D-Squirrel Hill. In a hallway of the Capitol Building, they met briefly with one of the few women who represent our state, Rep. Kathy Manderino, D-Philadelphia. She answered Girl Gov participants' questions about being a woman legislator. The students also toured the Capitol Building and the governor's mansion.

Most of the girls who participated found it an invaluable learning experience. "I loved it. I think it really opened my eyes to the real work involved behind the government," said Ilana Diamant, 14.

Andra Lamanc, 15, commented, "It really was a once in a lifetime experience. This program extended my knowledge of politicians and what they really do."

Julia Johnson, 15, said, "I thought I was going to be doing community activism and that kind of thing but now that I see how underrepresented women are in politics, I am definitely considering it."

Heather Arnet, executive director of the Women and Girls Foundation, was pleased.

"I think that today went pretty well. I liked seeing the girls interact with their legislators and telling them about the issues that mattered to them."

The day went so well that the Women and Girls Foundation is planning another Girl Gov Day for this fall. To find out more about Girl Gov or the Women and Girls Foundation, visit the website www.wgfpa.org.

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