By Eloisa Perez

Saving Adolescent Girls Everywhere (SAGE) is a club at Patterson High which helps young girls find themselves during high school, cope with some problems they might have, and help them do good in school.

SAGE is a group of girls “that talk about social awareness issues such as domestic violence, sex trafficking, body image”, said Coach Tatiana Cooper, the volleyball coach and SAGE faculty adviser. “We also do education involvement such as study hall every week and we do career and professional developments”, Coach Cooper added. “So pretty much I want to make sure they have jobs or educational opportunities over summer and throughout the year.”

“I started this program because I wanted to mentor girls that look like me… and I feel like there wasn’t even time to get into the school system.” Coach Cooper started this program so she can help girls throughout high school because high school can be a rough place for girls and she wants to help out as much as she can.

Coach Cooper is happy that she started the program because she has seen it help the students. “I’ve been able to see GPAs get better over time… and building a sisterhood and seeing the girls get along and have the community see them for who they really are.” Coach Cooper is saying that the girls she works with are really smart; it’s just that they need some encouragement from someone so they can do good in school.

Jade Recio is one of the 15 girls who are in the program. She likes SAGE because they help girls in need and it also helps her personality with issues she faces at home. “The program teaches me to not be so selfish and put myself in other people’s shoes because when we are helping other people that are in need I realize my life is not as bad as I thought it was.”, Recio said.

Recio believes that SAGE is a good program for girls who are facing some problems at home or anywhere. She says that the program teaches students to be humble and grateful for what they have, because some people out in the world have nothing.

Zewdi Mamno is another girl in the program. She encourages other girls to join the program because it helped her and she believes that SAGE can help other girls with their problems or to have more confidence in themselves.

“I would definitely tell other girls to join because it helps you find yourself, because high school is a really big place and I feel like there should be a place like SAGE where you can come to be yourself, because you’re judged everyday.”, Mamno explained.

SAGE is a really good program for girls in school, and its members believe it should be in every school because it helps them in every situation they might have.