Mill Street Loft's Girl's LitClub was invited to participate at the opening night of Vassar College's "Modfest" on Thursday, January 24th. Modfest is a multi-week celebration of the arts which takes place on the Vassar campus each year. The young women of LitClub performed in a program which also featured dancers from the New York School of Ballet and an orchestra from Stringendo Orchestra School of the Hudson Valley.

LitClub students worked with Megan, Michelle, and local spoken-word poet "Gold" writing poetry based on LitClub's Seven Strengths: Belonging, Curiosity, Friendship, Kindness, Confidence, Courage and Hope. Each student wrote two poems, and rehearsed with Gold to learn performance techniques.They were happy to learn the process, and Gold maintained the praise-centric environment essential to LitClub's success. One of our students commented that she will use this style to present her reports in school.

The evening was a great success. The LitClub students dressed up, presented their poems beautifully, received a great round of applause from the audience of about 100 people, AND saw performances by other young people -- ballet dancers and string musicians.

Modfest took place in the beautiful Villard Room at the Vassar College main building. Our girls were the youngest students participating in the event. They conducted themselves beautifully, were quiet and attentive during the other performances, and were welcomed by the Vassar students. Commented one of the LitClub girls, "Everyone here is so friendly! They all say hello when you pass them. It's not like the City of Poughkeepsie at all."

Vassar is, in fact, just two miles from downtown Poughkeepsie, but for many of our girls, it's a world away. Our partnership with Vassar College allows these young people to see what's possible; in fact, students from Mill Street Loft have gone on to Vassar on full scholarship. Programs like Modfest give our students the opportunity to open doors to their future.