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Nervous laughter characterized Elena de Toledo's first moments at GirlsUp summer camp. But after a week of yoga, learning to look at magazine advertisements in new ways and keeping a journal, the 11-year-old Elena, of Chevy Chase, has found her own unique inner strength and identity. She also knows that even when she doubts herself, she will not be alone.

"We're all like sisters," Elena said Friday, her last day at GirlsUp.

For this, she has a Chevy Chase wife and mother to thank.

One of about 15 girls at the GirlsUp camp's June session, Elena is living and strengthening the legacy of Kelly Murray, a clinical psychologist who was killed just over a year ago along with her daughter Sloane, 7, when a tree branch fell on the car Murray was driving on Connecticut Avenue, just a few minutes from her Town of Chevy Chase home.

Murray was 40 when she died. She left her husband Sean Murray, five daughters, and a grieving community who remembered her as a role model and inspiring figure in the Chevy Chase area.

She also left GirlsUp, which she started in 2008 as a program to instill self-awareness and confidence in young girls ages 10 to 13.

After Kelly Murray's death, hundreds of her neighbors volunteered to help her family with the needs of daily life. A group of her friends has also taken on the task of not just keeping GirlsUp going, but expanding it from a week-long summer session into a year-round organization. This year, GirlsUp has held a session June 21 to June 25, and will hold two more from July 12 to July 16.

Two of Kelly Murray's daughters will participate in a July GirlsUp session. Their father, Sean Murray, said he is proud they are contributing to their mother's legacy. And the number of others contributing has grown — enrollment at GirlsUp has tripled from its 2009 levels, from 15 to 45 girls, and there is a waiting list for the July session.

"This was a big part of their mom's life, and it was a great opportunity for her to participate in their lives as well," said Sean Murray, who has attended all the meetings of GirlsUp's leadership.

Each day during the five-day sessions is divided into a specific theme focused on a girl's individuality, such as self-awareness, self-image and self-expression. One day's schedule for the day on girls' self-image, for example, includes conversations about media images of young girls, work on "About Me" posters portraying their feelings about themselves, and a talk from a nutritionist about the right way to eat and exercise.

Girls also write in their journals, perform deep-breathing exercises with their own mantras (Elena's personal mantra: "Calm on"), and pick theme songs that represent them as individuals.

"We're not in there telling them just, ‘Believe in yourself,'" said Debra Soltis-Kiyonaga, a close friend and neighbor of the Murrays and now GirlsUp's executive director. "We're in there helping them figure out who they are, how to speak in their own voice, how to find genuine confidence, the real kind."

The activities not only have their own value, but when put together, they help the girls become comfortable with each other and illustrate their similarities that were previously hidden.

"You feel like the whole room feels the same way you do," said Catherine Seher, a 13-year-old girl from Chevy Chase who participated in her third year at GirlsUp during the June session.

On Friday, the June session's last day, Catherine and two other previous GirlsUp participants, Chevy Chase's June Peacock and Annie Kiyonaga, Soltis-Kiyonaga's daughter, decided to help, distributing T-shirts the girls designed earlier in the camp. Each girl put on the shirt adjectives and nouns she thought described herself well, ranging from "confident" and "artistic" to "happy" and "bookworm."

The project reinforces the GirlsUp message to learn about themselves and be true to what they learn, as they reach a crucial stage in their individual and social development.

"It's about being who you really are, before the world tries to tell you who you should be," Soltis-Kiyonaga said.

This year, the girls won't have to leave behind GirlsUp in the summer months. They are scheduled to help the county's Manna Food Center distribute food to children in July as a community service project. There are movie nights planned when camp participants discuss movies they watch that relate to GirlsUp themes. They can also log in to the camp's blog to discuss issues that matter to them.

Thinking about what his wife would have thought of GirlsUp's progress, Sean Murray said, "She'd be absolutely thrilled."

On Friday, Elena talked about the confidence she gained in the space of just a week. Through the common experience of GirlsUp, she also made lasting friends.

"We want to see each other again this summer," she said.