The Latest First: Celebrating Milestone Girls’ Education Graduations

Student Leadership Network made history in 1996 when it opened the doors to the first all-girls public school in the United States in 30 years – The Young Women’s Leadership School (TYWLS) of East Harlem. Then in 2001, the first 32 students graduated from the flagship East Harlem school with a nearly 100% college enrollment rate. Our approach to educating and supporting the whole girl worked!

Twenty-five years later, our girls’ and gender-expansive youth education work has grown to include four more TYWLS in New York City, and our Young Women’s Leadership Network (YWLN) of six national affiliates and ten partner schools. Since the TYWLS East Harlem pioneer class of 2001, we have watched and cheered on the inaugural graduating classes at nine of our TYWLS and YWLN affiliate schools. Hawthorn Leadership School for Girls in St. Louis is our latest affiliate to see a group of their students cross the graduation stage for the first time.  Following in the trailblazing footsteps of our flagship TYWLS East Harlem school, Hawthorn was the first public all-girls school opened in Missouri.

Every time a new school opens, at SL Network the excitement and joy of that groundbreaking moment holds the future pride of celebrating those students as they graduate high school. We look forward to celebrating more milestone graduations in the years to come as our Network continues to grow and expand our impact.