THE PROGRAM.
About
Super 7 Girls delivers a year-round curriculum to girls from Grade 3 through college, partnering with Chicago Public Schools. Programming helps students master seven life skills — or superpowers, as we call them. The journey builds gradually: In Grade 3, we begin with three skills, annually adding new skills. By Grade 9, girls are actively working on all seven superpowers.
THESE LIFE SKILLS LAY THE FOUNDATION FOR OUR GIRLS TO LEAD SUPERPOWERED LIVES.
Seven Superpowers
GRADE SCHOOL TO GRAD SCHOOL.
The Journey
Grade 3 To 8.
During the school year, girls spend Monday to Friday with us for 4.5 hours. We provide homework support and tutoring before our superpower curriculum, which spans classroom lessons, community engagement, and extracurriculars.
High School Track.
Here, we increasingly focus on college, career, and travel. During the summer, they might spend two weeks on college campuses, taking classes. And we design experiences around girls’ vocational interests: We enrolled one aspiring doctor in Rush University’s mini-med school, for instance, and a talented cook attended culinary classes.
We know our chef-to-be might not want to run a 5-star restaurant after all. And our “pre-pre-med” student may decide not to don a lab coat. But the option to say no is a superpower in its own right, and we aim to provide option after option, until every girl finds one that ignites her heart.
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Grade 9. After-school tutoring and superpower classes, plus new requisites: language, music, and extracurriculars.
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Grade 10, 11, 12. We add apprenticeships, internships, and immersive courses, plus service projects and college prep. The latter includes college campus tours, college application support, and SAT/ACT prep.
Summer School.
School may be out, but Super 7 Girls are not. More than half of students lose nearly 40 percent of the previous school year’s learning over the summer. Our summer curriculum reduces learning loss and cultivates new experiences.
Unlike traditional summer school, ours is not a consequence of poor school-year performance. In fact, girls work hard to pass a capstone exam they need to qualify for summer school.
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Overnight Camp.
Girls kick off the summer at a sleepaway camp of their choice.
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Day Camps.
On returning, girls spend mornings at week-long day camps (Circesteem, Chicago Children's Theatre Camp at Whitney Young High School, NIU STEM Camp), exploring a new focus weekly.
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Summer School.
After day camp, we deliver academic tutoring and superpower classes.
College.
In 2022, our first cohort to have graduated from Super 7 Girls became college students — each the first in her family to do so.
We navigate the world of college with our girls and provide daily support, like when moving in. Plus we help with long-term development: academic counseling, professional development classes, internships, and workshops to keep their superpowers present in daily life.
Our college women role model Super 7 leadership for our next generation, returning to our schools periodically to mentor and teach their younger counterparts.
Super 7 Girls On Campus
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Tuition: Thanks to our donors and girls’ accumulated savings, our 2022 cohort started college with the majority of tuition and living expenses covered
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College Students: 5
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Colleges: Clark Atlanta University, Eastern Illinois University, Louisiana State University, Malcolm X College
