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As images flash across the screen, an ordinary-looking young woman was transformed into a model — her skin glowed, her eyes became larger and more focused and her hair, thicker and curlier.

The group of girls watching the video, produced by Dove soap as part of its campaign to build self-esteem in young women, knew exactly what was going on: The flawless image was the result of professional makeup artists and computer graphics.

"I saw a girl with pimples and they covered them. I saw them making her neck longer," Sligo Middle School sixth-grader Emma Wakhanala, 11, said Thursday. "They made her eyes look bigger and they fixed her eyebrows."

"I don't think it's really showing her true beauty...it doesn't look like her," said sixth-grader Sunaina Charles, 11.

Emma, Sunaina and seven other girls at the Silver Spring school discussed true beauty at Thursday's meeting of S.I.S.T.E.R.S., an afterschool program created to help girls improve their self image.

Watching the video was the jumping off point for the students' discussion: "What's Hot About Me."

As the graphic read at the end of the video, "no wonder our perception of beauty is distorted." That distortion was not lost on the nine students at the meeting.

Social worker and group leader Melanie Kaplan, steered the talk to the way the girls thought of themselves.

"I'm looking for affirmation about themselves, who they are, their outstanding characteristics," Kaplan said. "Not physical beauty."

Eighth-grader Ebony King, 13, explained the "what's hot" the girls were looking for and offered positive characteristics about some of her peers too shy to point out their good traits.

"It means, what makes you unique," Ebony said.

The free S.I.S.T.E.R.S. program, standing for Self-Image, Strength, Tenacity, Empathy, Responsibility and Success, is active in five Montgomery County Public Schools including Sligo. The groups meet weekly at Parkland Middle School in Rockville; E. Brooke Lee Middle School in Wheaton; Montgomery Village Middle School; and Kennedy High School in Glenmont. About 200 students participate in S.I.S.T.E.R.S. this year according to Wendy-Nia Griffin, program director.

It is run by Bethesda-based Family Support Center, Inc., a nonprofit dedicated to helping schools and families "prevent, recognize and overcome mental health and behavioral challenges in children and adolescents," according to an e-mail from Griffin.

Most of the programs are funded by the Montgomery County Collaboration Council, whose mission, according to its website, is to "improve the well-being of children, youth and families in Montgomery County through collaborative partnerships," others, such as the one at Sligo, are funded by the Family Support Center.

"A program, such as the one at Sligo, that runs from October to May, costs about $10,000 for the year. We have grants from different organizations and get donations from people, [to pay for it]," Griffin said.

Girls from all grades at the schools are invited to join.

"The S.I.S.T.E.R.S. program is imbuing concrete coping and decision-making skills. [It] goes straight to the crux of what impacts young girls — like bullying, healthy relationships, peer pressure and healthy bodies. The girls set the agenda and thus the group is socially and culturally relevant," Griffin wrote in an e-mail.

During Thursday's meeting the girls ate snacks and decorated picture frames with stickers and words to remind them that they are special in their own way.

As they worked, the girls broke down the barriers they created at the beginning of the session: sitting in a circle, next to girls from their own grade level. By the end of the hour-long meeting most of the students worked together on the floor, shared markers and passed stickers to each other, chatted about themselves and their hopes and dreams.

"I like the group, they talk about who you are, confidence and self esteem so you don't feel bad about yourself," said sixth-grader Temi Adefisan, 11.

Pamela Jackson, a special education paraeducator at Sligo, is the group's in-school sponsor. She said she has seen a difference in the girls who attend the meetings.

"They are happy, more excited about coming and they are calmer in the halls and classrooms when I see them there," Jackson said.

Sixth-grader Marianny Calderon, 11, said she enjoys the group because she learns new things.

Marianny summed up the day's lesson on self image:

"You should like your personality and the way you look because everyone is unique. Just be the way you are."

pmcewan@gazette.net

LEARN MORE

To learn about starting a S.I.S.T.E.R.S. program in your school, contact the Family Support Center Inc., 301-718-2467 or visit www.fscone.org.