CapDev worked closely with the Girls Leadership Academy of Wilmington (GLOW) as it initiated fundraising efforts for this campaign, and we are excited to share GLOW’s success from the school’s new campus ribbon cutting last week!
From the Star News in Wilmington:
GLOW Grows
Girls Leadership Academy of Wilmington (GLOW) shows off new home
By Joey Chandler StarNews Staff
Photographs of 13 empowering and influential women throughout history line a purple wall inside Founders Hall at the new Girls Leadership Academy of Wilmington facility.
Their prominent faces watched on from the background during GLOW’s grand opening ceremony on Thursday afternoon.
“Being a part of GLOW from the beginning means that I have been a part of building something special,” freshman Kaiya Siderry, the 2019 GLOW girl of the year, said during the ceremony. “For me, it is the relationships with my teachers, my very good friends in the class of 2023 and my sisters across the school that make this place home for me.”
GLOW first opened its doors in 2016 with a sixth grade class of 100 girls on 606 South College Road before beginning at its new location at 4100 Sunglow Drive.
The school has grown in size from 12,000 square feet to more than 60,000, has more than 300 students and expanded the teaching staff from five to 21. A new class of 100 sixth graders is planned to be added each school year until it is fully enrolled in grades six through See GLOW, A5
Judy Girard, left, and GLOW Academy Principal Laura Hunter cut the ribbon at its new campus located at 4100 Sunglow Drive in Wilmington. Chefs Robert Irvine and Emeril Lagasse, pictured in back row, and local elected officials were just some that attended the Thursday ceremony.
Since moving to its new location, the school is hosting sixth through ninth graders.
GLOW founder Judy Girard, a long-time television executive known for The Food Network and HGTV, was among the grand opening speakers. She said her passion for helping with GLOW is about opening the door for women behind her.
“I know I can’t drag you guys through the door, you have got to do that on your own, but we are going to hold the door open,” Girard said. “We as we can to get you there and I hope you feel that support already.”
GLOW is an affiliate of the Young Women’s Leadership Network, a group of single-gender schools founded in New York in 1996 focused on preparing its students for life in college and beyond. Keynote Speaker Kenya Bryant, the assistant manager of philanthropic partnerships within the Estee Lauder Companies, was a graduate of the TYWLS in East Harlem.
“GLOW will not serve its purpose at all unless you take advantage of all it has to offer you,” Bryant said to the students. “You are in a great position to do great things here. The world is bigger is ready for you. Do not shrink yourself for the comfort of others. You are capable of anything if you are willing to put in the work.”
Principal Laura Hunter led GLOW students in reciting the sisterhood pledge in the courtyard before the ribbon cutting in front of its visitors, which included celebrity chefs Emeril Lagasse and Robert Irvine.
“We are strong,” the students, dressed in purple and yellow, chanted in unison. “We are brave. We are the girls of GLOW Academy.” Reporter Joey Chandler can be reached at 910343-2034 or JChandler@StarNewsOnline.com.
GLOW Academy held a ribbon cutting for its new campus located at 4100 Sunglow Drive in Wilmington on Thursday.
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