BeTween Initiative to host event emphasizing 'tween' assurance Saturday

BeTween Initiative is a local group focused on improving self-assurance in young adolescent girls by providing resources and instruction not readily available. The organization is hosting its first event Saturday — The BeTween Initiative — at the Osage Centre in Cape Girardeau.

Zonta member and event organizer Dr. Heather Cugini said by email Tuesday the event was “borrowed and sort of reinvented.”

“I have a colleague up in the [New York] area with a ‘tween’ aged daughter,” Cugini said. “She was struggling with bullying and peer pressure and it was centralized around pubertal changes. It also involved a little bit of cyber bullying via a social media outlet.”

The event is the first of its kind in Cape Girardeau, Cugini said, adding there are 145 people preregistered for the event as of Tuesday afternoon.

“Our goal was to have at least 150 tween-aged girls walk through the door and experience what our little town has to offer,” she said.

Cugini’s latest efforts gained steam after hearing of her New York colleague’s plan for a similar informational gathering. Three hundred people signed up for the event, she said, which led to Cugini implementing a similar event within Southeast Missouri.

“So we formulated a plan to hold an event of some kind to address what it’s like to be a tween,” Cugini said. “I am an OBGYN by trade, so the girl-focus was pretty natural for me, but it also seems to be a little harder to get info on nontraditional things to girls specifically.”

The BeTween Initiative encompasses all avenues for tweens, she said, emphasizing “that almost but-not-yet timeframe in a girl’s life that is so very precious and fragile.”

Cugini said the emphasis is on six key categories: community, education, fitness and nutrition, health, self-esteem and body image, and safety.

“All of the aspects will be represented in a hands-on [manner], if at all possible,” Cugini said. “Each of the primary focus points will hopefully have a take-home sensory experience that allows for the girls to really engage with the idea.”

Southeast Missouri State University faculty and students from the College of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics will be performing physical-science demonstrations during the event Saturday, according to a university statement.

The Department of Chemistry and Physics’ professional student organizations and students enrolled in “Professional Experiences in Chemistry” will host a table with hands-on science activities during the event, including slime-making, color changes, columns of foam, bubbles that don’t pop, shattering flowers and imploding steel canisters. The students’ demonstrations also will be part of the event’s grand finale at 3:30 p.m.

Cugini added, “I am a Zontian ... and so are half of the women involved in the project. It’s an avenue that has [led] to so many great things in the community, and the focus of betterment for women overall is a clear and tangible connection.”

More information can be found on the group’s Facebook page.

jhartwig@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3632