THE CedarBridge Academy Teen Girls in Focus travelled to the US on a tour of colleges last month ? and during a stop-off in Dover, Delaware met Bermudian Oradelle Sewell, president and founder of the WOW Nike Club of Delaware, who has worked as a consultant for the Delaware Program of Education for more than 12 years.

Ms Sewell, who has lived in the US for 25 years, was the proud recipient of Delaware Governor Ruth Ann Miller's "Outstanding Community Award". The Nike Club is named after the Nike of Somathrace ? the winged goddess of victory. Ms Sewell's goal is to promote fair and equal education to all children and their families, regardless of their family backgrounds.

The club visited the Legislative Hall and were introduced to the Senators of Dover, Delaware, and participated in a Teen Forum. The Academy then spent a day at the high schools of Lake Forest, Dover High, and Polytec, where the club compared and contrasted CedarBridge to the school systems of Dover.

Among the colleges the club visited were Howard University, Hampton University, Norfolk State University, and Tennessee State.

The club meets three times a month to discuss matters such as peer pressure with everyday life. The Academy is meant as a means to teach young women the concerns of growing up, the issues of parent/daughter relationships, to learn self-discipline, to think responsibly on drugs and sex, to understand their own boundaries and limits, to choose college careers with care, to develop character, and to encourage them to make the right choices as adults.

"Any high school student can join with no grade requirements between the ages of 14 and 18 years," said co-ordinator Alicia Zuill, who along with advisers Nadia Tuckett, Donna Edwards, Charles Douglas, and Kendra Lightbourne organised and led the trip to the US, having been invited to attend the Delta Sigma Black Historical College Tour.

"Our club is focused on broadening their horizons and their knowledge. The trip was meant to teach them to be good leaders."

As well as discussing life issues, Teen Girls in Focus participates in different types of community service, among them car washes and bake sales. TGIF also took the time to make a garden consisting of flowers and vegetables at Gibbs Hill Lighthouse for Aids patients who have no home to call their own.