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When ��ɫ���� Kinesiology student Tracee Logan saw the posting for the opportunity to be a coach for the Black Girl Joy program, she knew she had to be involved.  

“I thought, ‘This is a perfect opportunity for me because I am very interested in helping people,’” Logan said. 

Black Girl Joy is a new enrichment program born out of Smart Fit Girls, a non-profit founded by Dr. Kellie Walters, Associate Professor in the Department of Kinesiology. Like Smart Fit Girls, Black Girl Joy is a program that is aimed at providing extra support in social and emotional learning for young girls, as well as opportunities to be encouraged to stay fit and active. 

“I love working out and fitness,” Logan said. “And I was excited to incorporate what I am learning in my classes to help these young girls, who look like me.” 

Logan, who is studying to obtain her Bachelor of Science degree in Sport Psychology and Leadership, is one of four student coaches hired by Dr. Walters for Black Girl Joy. The program is held at Addams Elementary School over the course of 7 weeks during the spring semester. 

As interns for the program, Logan and fellow students from the College of Health and Human Services provide mentorship to middle school-aged Black girls in the Long Beach Unified School District. They also help lead them in a myriad of activities ranging from different workouts and fitness routines -- to creative endeavors such as journaling and vision boarding -- to allowing space to simply connect with one another.

“I think it’s really important as well to give  young Black girls a space to discuss uncomfortable topics they usually would be too scared to talk about -- including body esteem, body image, anxiety and depression, and more,” said Alexis Pope, another student coach and ��ɫ���� Nutrition and Health Science major. “I feel middle school can be a tough time for girls, which can affect their mental health. My favorite part of Black Girl Joy is the emphasis on self-love and how being Black as a part of our identity, is something we should be proud of. Within every lesson, we teach the girls the importance of uplifting themselves and others.” 

“Parents [in LBUSD] have been asking us for more programming for middle schoolers, and Black Girl Joy is one of the programs helping to answer that call -- in addition to closing that knowledge and opportunity gap among Black students and other marginalized communities,” said Elyssa Taylor-Stewart, currently serving as an Administrator for BSAI, through the school district’s Office of Equity, Engagement and Partnerships. 

Elyssa, a board member of the Smart Fit Girls program, sought to take an additional step toward addressing the needs of not only middle school youth in the district but also specifically Black students. She connected with Dr. Walters, who had long envisioned a culturally responsive component to her non-profit, Smart Fit Girls. Together, they launched Black Girl Joy, a program designed to support the unique needs of young Black girls in the school system and foster their growth, development, and learning. 

“I think there is something beautiful about college age students mentoring middle school age students, because the middle schoolers see themselves in them,” Dr. Walters said. 

Heaven Mitchell, another coach for Black Girl Joy, and also studying to obtain her Bachelor of Science degree in Sport Psychology and Leadership, says she enjoys connecting with the girls, getting to know them and being a source of inspiration for them.

“I love the activity we do as part of Black Girl Joy where our girls write positive affirmations about themselves and their peers. It has been showing them that there are beautiful things that others love about them,” said Mitchell, who hopes to one day herself become an athletic trainer or physical therapist after graduating from ��ɫ����. 

“Our girls get to see these young Black women studying in these difficult majors, and they get to know these brilliant Cal State Long Beach students, who come back to mentor them,” Elyssa Taylor-Stewart said. “They believe that they can be like them one day…‘I can be you one day, and I can see myself in you.’  I think we all need someone like that.” 

Dr. Walters agreed; and thus, she embarked on a journey to help create a curriculum for Black Girl Joy, partnering with the school district to introduce a program that would empower young Black girls with their fitness, while simultaneously providing a paid internship/ service-learning opportunity for ��ɫ���� students and planting an early seed among young Black scholars in LBUSD about higher education. 

“We didn’t have a lesson plan specifically for Black and African American girls [as part of Smart Fit Girls],” Dr. Walters said. “We applied for funding, we got it, and then we just did it. There was a curriculum and planning committee comprising Black women. We created a set curriculum, but allowed space for branching out to other topics, as the discussions would lead once the coaches began interacting with our Black Girl Joy participants.”

Since its start this semester, dozens of participants have been attending the program. Though Black Girl Joy has a curriculum tailored to middle schoolers and is held at Addams Elementary School, it is part of the BSAI’s ongoing Sankofa Saturdays, which is an extracurricular weekend program which Stewart said is rooted in Black Excellence and was originally created for kids from T-K through 5^th grade. “Sankofa” is a West African term from Ghana meaning “to go back and bring forward.” 

“It was important for me to get this opportunity of being a coach for Black Girl Joy because it is my last semester before I graduate and I wanted to go out with something meaningful and impactful,” said Tracee Logan. 

“I would love for this to be something we can offer yearly and have it continue to be offered through Sankofa Saturdays”, said Dr. Walters. “I think that it’s a really great thing for Black and African American girls in Long Beach to really see themselves in college and begin to feel more like our school system is a safe, equal space for them.” 

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