Alberta V. Scott Leadership Academy
The mission of the Alberta V. Scott (AVS) Leadership Academy is to facilitate the holistic development of successful young Black women by equipping them with the tools they need to succeed in college, the workplace, and the world at large. The program strives to cultivate leadership skills and nurture individual creativity. By fostering sisterhood and cooperation among AVS scholars and with their college-level mentors and teaching each participant to be mentally, emotionally, and physically healthy, the program also hopes to create a community of strong women who can support each other in their endeavors.
Named for the first Black woman to graduate from Radcliffe College , the Alberta V. Scott Leadership Academy (AVS) gives participating 9 th and 10th grade girls the opportunity to cultivate leadership skills and individual creativity through semester-long projects. Each girl, or scholar, is assigned a mentor, and mentors and scholars participate in weekly discussions on topics ranging from maintaining physical and emotional health to setting and achieving goals. Mentors also counsel the girls on the college preparation process and expose them to careers in which Black women are traditionally underrepresented, emphasizing the limitless potential of both the scholars and Black women overall. The program concludes with a Rites of Passage ceremony, which is an African and African-American tradition that acknowledges the completion of a stage in a youth's life.