Youngsters are learning
life skills at workshop

By Lauren Fritsky
Times Staff Writer

Shanaed Gales wants to stay out of trouble.
But it’s not hard to find trouble in her Castor Gardens neighborhood. Kids roam the streets. Drug dealers do business on the corner. People get shot.
To distance herself from the riffraff, Gales enrolled in the Evoluer Personal Development Workshop for Girls at the Lawncrest Recreation Center this summer.
Geared toward growing self-esteem and manners in pre-teen and teenage girls, the free workshop runs two days a week at three recreation sites across the city. The Department of Recreation started sponsoring the program in 2005.
"It gives you something positive to do," said Gales, 16.
Lisa Whittle, special projects coordinator for the department, said Evoluer targets a female age group often ignored by other programs.
"This age group is very under-served," she said. "You’re giving them a safe place to go to promote their well-being. You get them familiar with things that happen in everyday life."
With little to learn from the waif-thin, poorly behaving celebrities they often see glorified on television, the Evoluer girls are schooled in how to become the best version of themselves, not someone else.
Philadelphia-based Evoluer Image Consultants, which also offers fashion and beauty seminars, make-up instruction and model boot camps, created the workshop with more than just manners in mind.
The coaching covers everything from properly executing a handshake to writing a solid resume. The young women learn eloquence and etiquette and boost their self-esteem and body image. During each session they recite a pledge to remind themselves of their beauty, intelligence and strength. The workshop culminates in three special events: a career day, formal dinner and commencement ceremony.
"Always make sure you look the person in the eye," said Chanda Robinson, personal development coach, to the room of 25 girls. "You want to be respectful and confident."
Each young woman gets something different from the program. The loud ones learn to tone it down. The quiet ones learn to speak up. But whatever the personal reasons for enrolling, all students must show up on time and show respect.
And everyone must participate, Robinson said.
"If I have to introduce myself and smile, they do to," she said.
And despite the catty behavior that often lurks in a room full of young girls, the Evoluer women swear that they get along just fine.
"We’re like sisters," said Logan resident Brittney Jackson, 13.
Jackson said she entered the program because she "needed to know what is proper."
"It teaches you how to walk and talk."
"It teaches you manners, how to talk to people," added Tacony resident Tyshema Fletcher, 11.
Gales would rather learn the ropes at Evoluer than have to change her behavior when she’s already an adult.
"It’s harder when you’re older," she said. "You get one-minded."
Whittle, the project coordinator, said the recreation department intends to keep Evoluer as one of its programs. She hopes to bring it back to Lawncrest next year.
"I think the program just promotes that (girls) can be comfortable with who they are," she said. ••
For more information on Evoluer, visit www.evoluerconsultants.com
Reporter Lauren Fritsky can be reached at 215-354-3038 or lfritsky@phillynews.com