For young women, caught between the carefree spirit of childhood and the responsibilities of adulthood, a great deal of learning is done outside of the classroom.

To navigate their way into maturity, adolescents and teenagers look to friends, family and the world around them to better understand themselves and their roles in society.

Eager to spread the right message, the Butler County Chapter of the American Association of University Women is once again setting aside time for some serious girl talk.

First held in 1998, the AAUW's annual Girl Talk program is providing a little guidance and fellowship for sixth grade girls in Butler County.

"These girls are entering a rough age," said Jean Shumway, coordinator for this year's event, which will be held from 6:15 to 10 p.m. March 11 at the Family First Resource Center, 216 N. Washington St.

The program, composed of ice-breaking activities, four discussion groups and an ice cream social, first began when members of the Butler AAUW were presented with the results of several national AAUW studies and campaigns, including the study "Shortchanging Girls, Shortchanging America."

The study, released in the early 1990s, showed

that adolescent

girls often lose self-esteem and interest in academics.

To combat this trend, members of the Butler chapter of AAUW targeted girls in the sixth grade, which is often a time of transition from elementary school to middle school or high school.Past Girl Talk topics, led by AAUW members and area professionals, have included journaling, positive relationships and art projects.This year, topics will include positive self-image, self-defense for teens, healthy habits and friendship.Participants will be divided into four small groups to allow more opportunity for discussion.Each group will be accompanied by one or two honor students from Butler High School, who direct the groups to each discussion location and watch to make sure all the girls are involved.Mary McGinnis, an AAUW member who leads the self-image portion of the evening, said though their time is limited, the discussions are fun and give participants a positive message.During the self-image discussion, girls flip through magazines, pulling out examples of what they consider beautiful and then discussing their views with the group."What we find is that there's still a lot of stereotyping about beauty in girls as young as the sixth grade," said McGinnis.Through their discussions, the girls are encouraged to think and speak positively about themselves.Though many of the participants have heard similar discussions from other sources, McGinnis feels the repetition and reinforcement are helpful."We know we're not changing the world in one evening," she said.Like the discussion about positive self-image, the topic of self-defense has proven popular in the past and will be repeated this year.Though other topics are directed by AAUW members, the self-defense portion is led by Susan Dunn and Mona MacDonald, owners of Lioness Martial Arts in Pittsburgh.Dunn, a registered nurse by day, is a fifth degree black belt, and she uses her skills to teach women and youths to defend themselves."The way the world is now, it's almost never to early to start (learning)," said Dunn.Though most of the self-defense courses offered by Lioness Martial Arts include several weeks of practice, Dunn condenses the themes of her self-defense course to suit the Girl Talk time limits."The message I'm giving them is pay attention to your surroundings," she said.Though Dunn and her partner do not have time to teach and perfect the martial arts moves they normally teach, she tells the girls to pay attention to their surroundings, walk with confidence, and never be an easy victim."Every little kid knows how to kick," she said. "I'll teach them to make a racket right away."Dunn explained that causing a scene by screaming and fighting often deters an attacker or abductor.Participants will also learn a tactic to release their wrist from an attacker's grasp.In addition to providing participants with ideas about self-defense, Dunn said participants learn skills that can help them in other life situations.Comparing her experiences to those the girls may face, Dunn said her confidence in karate has given her greater confidence in nursing."(I think) if you can do a black belt test, you can do this."Unlike these repeated programs, Shumway said the healthy habits and friendship topics were new for this year.Ideas for new topics come from members, suggestions from past participants and are often derived from the abilities of AAUW members.The health portion, for example, will be led by a member who is a microbiologist.Brochures for the free program were sent to sixth grade classes in the Butler, Knoch and Slippery Rock school districts, but Shumway said the program is open to all sixth grade girls.At the conclusion of the program, an ice cream social will be held and participants will receive a gift bag.To ensure the program's continued success, a survey is conducted at the end of the session to get the girls' reactions."Nobody has ever had anything bad to say about it," said Barb Wheatall, former Butler AAUW president and coordinator for the Girl Talk program in its first year."We try to give them some good information, but we really make an effort to disguise it as fun."For details about the Girl Talk program, contact Shumway at 724-738-1779. For information about the self-defense portion of the program, contact Susan Dunn at 412-241-6519.