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HAVERGAL COLLEGE
where they already hang out. So the first
two elements of the campaign happened
online, through a YouTube video and a flat
lay translated into Instagram shorts. While
each follows a big concept, they also stand
out because they involve the girls directly
(see sidebars)
.
Finally, it’s all about the hashtag.
While #GirlThings already existed,
#RealGirlThings is Havergal’s creation, a
reflection of the overall campaign ethos.
“Real Girl Things isn’t about the perfect
presentation of girls. It’s about passions,”
says Mirabelli. “What we’re attempting
to do is broaden the scope of what is
considered a girl thing. Hopefully in doing
that we illustrate the confidence that’s inside
all of these young women,” adds Litzinger.
Mirabelli is hopeful that the campaign
will not only boost confidence in Havergal
girls, but also become a talking point more
generally. “It’s a platform for people to share
ideas and content about what it means to be
female in this day and age. It started here,
but I really believe it can be a platform for
larger conversations outside and beyond the
ivy walls of the school.”
So that’s the campaign. But surely a
discussion about confidence isn’t complete
without talking to the girls who inspired
it, who are trying to find it in today’s
increasingly connected and complex world.
So what does confidence mean to the
Havergalians living and breathing girlhood
right now?
Ask Kaitlyn Daley, for example. A Grade 4
student, Daley started at Havergal in Junior
Kindergarten. Her favourite subject is math,
her favourite books are fantasy fiction
(she’s currently reading the fourth Harry
Potter novel) and she’s getting a kick out of
re-programming the early game
Pong
in the
Junior School Video Game Club. But her
first love is karate, which is why she decided
to started a Karate Club in the Junior School
that she helps lead with her dad.
Starting the martial art at age three, she
already has her Advanced Brown Belt and
hopes to achieve her Black Belt this year.
But she does it for more than just the belts.
“I do karate because if I’m having a bad
day, it’ll just calm me down. Karate, to me,
is about doing your best every time, trying
to be even better than your last class,”
says Daley.
She even inspired her dad, who followed
her into the martial art. So did her five-
year-old sister. Daley’s face turns bright
pink when she talks about karate; for her,
the joy of engaging in the practice and
especially sharing it with other girls at
Havergal can bring tears to her eyes. She
says karate gives her confidence because
it has become such a part of her identity.
“There’s different unique parts of a person,
and one of mine is karate,” says Daley.
At the other end of the school spectrum in
a different sport, Talia Ng is another student
who impresses with her low-key confidence.
Well, not that low key, considering that she’s
already won a gold medal in badminton at
the 2015 Junior Pan Am games (her medal
is now part of the flat lay) and plans to take
a year off after graduation to train for the
2020 Olympics.
Currently in Grade 10, Ng plays field
hockey and will start coaching Grades 7 and
8 in badminton in the new year. She started
playing competitively at age nine and now
trains six days a week at the E Badminton
Club in Markham, Ontario. In 2017, Ng
hopes to return to the Junior Pan Am games
(to be held in Toronto) and qualify for the
World Juniors.
Asked the big question about confidence,
Ng pauses to reflect. She says that the
sense of community she found at Havergal
There’s different
unique parts of a
person, and one of
mine is karate.
—Kaitlyn Daley, Grade 4
Kaitlyn Daley demonstrates her karate stance.