For Young Adolescent Girls

“"Do not ask me to abandon or forsake you!

for wherever you go I will go, wherever

you lodge I will lodge, your people shall

be my people, and your God my God.”

(NAB)

Encouraging a love of reading and writing

Developing a supportive community

Empowering girls to reach their full potential

Developing a spirit of service to others

Founded by

For young girls, 12-16, living

in the Defiance area

Defiance College

Division of Teacher Education

And the use of the Yellow

House for our meeting space

Peggy Brown Jerri Courtney

And generous donors

Baking cookies for Empty Bowls dinner

Photo by Brooke Gordon

Created and written by participants of

T-RUTH Academy for Young Adolescent

Girls ©2010

for ourselves and for each other, for

improvement now, not later. We LIVE as

deeply as we can by accepting challenges

and opportunities with a smile. We LIVE as

strong individuals united as an equally strong

group and we realize the importance of the

simple statement: We LIVE!

as one to DREAM and in our dream we see a

piece of everyone in it. We DREAM of a

better world with better lives. DREAMING is

our way of getting started. When we DREAM,

we make things happen courageously.

to speak up and say what we think, but we also

need wisdom to be careful not to offend

others. We also need COURAGE to accept

responsibility for our lives and behavior, to

accept our failures, to strive to overcome

them, and to work hard to accomplish new

things. Through COURAGE we find hope.

and fun. HOPE is something everyone should

have. If we don’t have HOPE, we should seek

it. For when we have HOPE, we can

encourage others to have it, too. HOPE

brings joy!

the T-RUTH Academy girls, commit to always

be there to bring JOY to each other’s lives.

We strive to bring JOY through

smiles, hugs, and love. Everyone needs

happiness, and therefore, JOY in their lives.

JOY allows us to imagine.

growing with and through each other by

establishing a community of sisters based on

trust and respect. We pledge to remain loyal

to each other by communicating and sharing

ideas and feelings. When we IMAGINE, we

create.

beauty with our dance, our song, our

writing, and our art. We strive to CREATE

within ourselves a peaceful and welcoming

spirit.

begins within us first. We seek PEACE within

so that others may be inspired to live

PEACEFULLY. Our goal is to tear down the

walls that separate us by living the words

from which T-RUTH originated: “I will not

forsake you; wherever you go, I will, go…

(Ruth 1:16).” Together we have the power to

create a new world free of hate and fear,

filled with light and love.

Composed and performed by Yiruma, from

the album From the Yellow Room (2003)