Stretched across couches and chairs, 19 girls sit in concentration threading tiny multi-colored beads onto pre-cut strings. With music playing in the background and snack food being passed around, the atmosphere resembles a slumber party. However, the situation is different.
Instead of being life long friends, most of the girls don’t even remember their neighbor’s last name. In fact, they’ve only known each other for a couple of weeks.
The girls are living in Sienna 4B dorm on Bellarmine University’s campus, and are in the Governor’s Scholars Program. GSP is a 26-year-old program which allows bright and motivated high school juniors to have enriching and challenging academic and social experiences in a community setting.
Thanks to one scholar in particular, Lilly Yu, the girls are “Beading to Beat Autism,” which is a program started by 12-year-old Michala Riggle, whose brother has Autism.
Riggle started making bracelets to sale to raise money for kids with Autism get the help they need. She created a private foundation called Michala Riggle Beat Autism Foundation, Inc. and has raised over $350,000 so far.
The foundation is largely volunteer based. Those interested in helping can call the foundation and ask them to send bracelet-making kits. The volunteers are encouraged to use their creativity to use the beads to design a couple hundred bracelets per kit. Then the volunteers send the finished bracelets back for the foundation to sell for $3.
Yu, a 17-year-old from Manual High School, started the bead project with her floor. She mentioned it one night at a curfew check-in and the response was a unanimous “yes.” Yu called the foundation and asked to be involved in the project.
The girls come to their dorm about an hour before curfew to design bracelets. They use the time to snack, gossip and bond with each other. So far, they have created about 200 bracelets.
“I love that we get to do this, “ said Dylan Denison, from Horse Cave. “We get to help out kids with Autism and have fun while we do it.”
“Beading to Beat Autism” was not the first project Yu has been involved in. She is also helping a project called “Got Prom?” as a requirement for her school’s National Honor Society. Yu became involved with “Got Prom?” through the Northeast Christian Church.
“I think every girl deserves that special prom, so it’s really fulfilling to know I'm helping teenage girls just like myself. I hope each girl feels beautiful on prom night,” Yu said.
The project assists high school girls who cannot afford dresses and accessories for prom to obtain them free or at lower costs.
Yu began awareness of her project by posting it on Facebook. She saw how many people had joined the “Bellarmine GSP group” and thought it would be a good way to gain awareness. Yu called for all girls with extra prom dresses and accessories to bring them to GSP. However, a major problem arose once the program started; the girls were unable to find Yu on campus.
Before coming to the program she created fliers for her project. Due to restrictions on campus, Yu was unable to pass them out or hang them up. However, she has overcome these obstacles and has still been able to obtain a few items.
Even though her community service project is due at the beginning of the school year, Yu plans on collecting dresses for “Got Prom?” all year.
The “Beading to Beat Autism” project will wrap up at the end of the Governor’s Scholars Program. Yu enjoys helping others and says, “I love doing service projects for things I love.”