Girls have always learned best about the ways of world from both their elders and their peers, rather than from television and magazines. Founded by Lisbeth Giglio of Laguna Beach and Sun Valley in June 2008, Girls Academie is an exclusive, international club for girls in which girls will participate in activities and mentoring opportunities designed to develop character and integrity.
On Saturday, Oct. 4, the Acadamie's inaugural event a "Formal Fancy Tea and Etiquette Lesson" was held at the Sun Valley Lodge Dining Room, which was donated for the event. There were 50 Wood River Valley girls and their mothers present.
"There's nothing like this out there," Giglio said. "I wanted to create a world-wide club for girls to connect and network, make friends and create opportunities for them in their lifetime."
Giglio describes the club as a "dynamic, experiential learning community that spans the globe, dedicated to empowering girls to greatness by fostering each individual girl's unique potential and spirit of adventure through exemplary standards of individual character, intellectual achievement and social responsibility."
Its motto is "Amor, Fidelitas, Bonititas," Latin for "Love, Loyalty, Integrity".
Among the programs the girls participate in is the Extraordinary Events Program, in which girls will participate in select activities in various places around the world.
Upcoming events in Sun Valley include ice skating lessons with Hall of Fame skater Linda Fratianne and Italian cooking lessons with Cristina Ceccatelli Cook, of Cristina's in Ketchum. Events are interchangeable so once a member, your daughter may be able to go to Paris to take a private tour of the Louvre and learn to fly a helicopter next fall, for instance.
For the Fundraising and Philanthropic program, members will plan and hold a philanthropic charity and fundraising event of their choice twice a year. The Foreign Exchange Program will offer girls a chance to spend a week with other Academie girls in private homes in different locations. The Internship Program will encourage girls to create the "internship of their dreams anywhere in the world, be it a career dream or a lifelong dream," Giglio said.
Other programs include the Lifecoaching and Parent Consultation Program and a Mentoring and Peer Counseling Program. Older girls act as peer counselors to the younger girls in the Big Sister/Little Sister Program, and for older girls there's the Parties!Parties!Parties! Program.
There are chapters in many locations, including Laguna Beach, Seattle, New York, Paris, Rome, Maui, Brisbane, San Francisco, Santa Barbara, Boston, Greenwich, Newport Beach, Beverly Hills and Washington, D.C.
Membership fee is $995 per year, which includes all of the programs, Giglio said. Per event cost is $55.
The Sun Valley Girls Academie's next event will include a day of fly fishing, bird watching and survival skills from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 1. For more information visit girlsacademie.com or call Giglio at 720-4586.
Girls gather in the Sun Valley Lodge for the launch of the Girls Academie. Photo by
