GLOW’s Spring season starts in early April
A mother with a mission started Girls on the GLOW in 2012.
GLOW is an acronym meaning: grow, learn, offer, work.
This program is a curriculum-based fitness club with a mission of helping girls in first through sixth grades in South Jersey “find their inner glow,” founder Dina Strachan said.
In an effort to help her daughter, Isabella, develop into both a confident woman and life-long athlete, Strachan teamed with the Harrison Township-based nonprofit Mullica Hill Women’s Tri Club to create an environment for girls that “focuses on building endurance and strength as well as building character and confidence.”
Grow in confidence; Learn about fitness and wellness; Offer acceptance and friendship; Work to achieve goals.
A lifelong runner who completed her first triathlon in 2009, Strachan is a school counselor at Woodstown High School and former English teacher in the Medford School District.
“There is a tremendous sense of accomplishment when you create a goal and achieve it. I wanted my daughter to feel that,” she said.
Competition is often thought of as a synonym of athleticism; however, Strachan stressed her organization is focused on helping young girls learn how, at a “critical age,” to “embrace the concept that they can be brave, that they can accomplish their goals with hard work.”
Rather than sparring GLOW members against each other in competition, Strachan structures GLOW’s Saturday meetings at J. Mason Tomlin Elementary School in Mantua by beginning with lessons centered around positive thinking, the importance of physical fitness, goal setting and “how to be a good friend,” she said. The young girls then partake in a physical activity meant to reinforce the message of the lesson.
“I want the girls to take [the lesson] home with them, to internalize it and make it part of their lives,” she said.
Throughout the program, the girls receive certificates for certain physical activities that equate to miles, and those miles add up to equal a marathon.
The girls are offered a T-shirt, a journal to record goals and progress, and a water bottle to stay hydrated during the eight-week program.
Strachan developed the idea after considering opening a chapter of “Girls on the Run,” a North American nonprofit with a similar message; however, she wanted to pursue her own curriculum.
“I thought, ‘I’ll just do it,’” she said.
Over the course of six years and 13 seasons (two seasons per year), GLOW has grown into more than just a character-building fitness group for young girls.
Some aspects Strachan has added over the years are GLOW with Mom, a facet of the club that offers time for mothers and daughters to “create lifelong memories” by partaking in social activities around Mullica Hill.
“It is a critical age for girls when that relationship can be bonded. So many times as parents, we have to be the bad guy and this gives parents the opportunity on their schedule to have fun together and reinforce that relationship,” she said.
Another add-on is “Aspiring Athletes,” specifically for girls in third through sixth grades to train for 5k races.
Referencing fashion magazine covers and the idea that women need to appear a certain way, Strachan said, “It’s insidious in a child’s mind. They don’t realize they are getting these messages.”
A paramount reason for starting GLOW was to reinforce confidence in young girls, a confidence Strachan says can “dissipate as they get older.”
Strachan says her daughter, now a volunteer for the group, “has gone through her phases just like every other girl. She has tackled big things with confidence. That confidence has been challenged. I would say right now she definitely has a positive outlook.”
For more information about GLOW and to register for the upcoming spring season, visit mullicahilltriclub.com/index.php/glow/girls-on-the-glow.
Each season requires a $30 sign-up fee.
GLOW is also on Facebook.
Strachan can be reached at dina@mhwtc.com.
