By Leslie Collins
Northeast News
May 18, 2011

Forget diamonds. For young ladies at Paseo Academy of Fine and Performing Arts, P.E.A.R.L.S. are a girl’s best friend.

P.E.A.R.L.S., which stands for Pursuing Excellence and Real Life Success, is a peer mentoring program that uses high school juniors and seniors to mentor to those in seventh through ninth grades.

“It’s a grassroots effort all the way,” said Richonda Lawton, parent of a Paseo senior and one of the organizers of P.E.A.R.L.S. “For the 2010 to 2011 school year, KCMSD (Kansas City Missouri School District) decided to integrate the middle schools with the high schools.

Some schools were having a lot of challenges. Some kids were acting out and there were a lot of issues.

“The high school kids wanted to help and I as a parent thought there has to be a better way.”

That’s when Lawton and other parents organized P.E.A.R.L.S. as a way to ease the transition from middle school to high school.

Junior and senior students became “big sisters,” and the high school and middle school students began to bond.

Once a week, P.E.A.R.L.S. meets for “girl talk” to talk about life, peer pressure, self-esteem, among other topics.

Now, Lawton wants to spread the mentoring program to girls across the Kansas City metro.

This Saturday, P.E.A.R.L.S is hosting a “Be Inspired” conference at Paseo Academy, 4747 Flora Ave., Kansas City, Mo., for girls in seventh through 12th grades across the metro.

“It’s about motivating them and inspiring them,” Lawton said of the conference. “We want to see other young women strive for more.”

The conference is free of charge and registration will be held from 9:30 a.m. to 10 a.m. Saturday.

To pre-register, visit http://urbantrainingsystems.biz/pearls_registration.html.

The conference will be held from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and includes motivational speakers, workshops, lunch and prize giveaways.

Delores Jones, motivational speaker and author, will be the keynote speaker and workshop leader of “BE Smart – No More D.U.M.B. Stuff.”

Mazuma Credit Union will lead a workshop on how to effectively manage money, Dr. Etta C. Gray will lead “BE You – Building Strong Confidence and Self Esteem,” and Chantell Garrett, president and founder of R.U.B.I.E.S. Inc., will lead the workshop, “BE Ready, Set, Go – Life after high school, preparing for college and beyond.”

Other agenda items include dressing for success; the Be Inspired Awards, which recognizes local students who have given back to their community and have become an inspiration to others; and “Barbie – What do Guys Really Think?”

Young men in their teens, twenties and thirties will serve on a panel for the Barbie presentation and will answer questions from the audience.

From 12 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. a workshop will be offered for mothers and guardians, which covers “What happens next? Surviving the teenage and adult years.” Dacia Moore, owner of Second Wind Counseling and Consulting, will lead the workshop.

“I hope that they (students) take away they can do more by supporting each other than by being separate,” Lawton said. “We just want them to be encouraged and inspired to continue to aim for the best.”