LAKEWOOD, Ohio - Freshman year in high school can be a whirlwind experience with social pressures seemingly exploding from every direction. At Lakewood High School, Guidance Counselor Nina DeChant is leading pilot program Ruling Our Experiences (ROX), which acts as a support group for 10 freshman girls.

"I think the ninth graders need more intervention because they're kind of getting lost in the shuffle and have a hard time adjusting from middle school to high school," said DeChant, who has been with the district for 27 years.

"The idea behind it is to empower young girls to have a voice, to not be caught up in cultural pressures to look a certain way and to have an opportunity to talk about what's real for them in their young lives."

The 20-week program ROX was developed by Ohio State University Professor Lisa Hinkelman, who authored the book "Girls Without Limits." Currently there are three high schools in Cuyahoga County employing the ROX program.

While DeChant was trained as a facilitator in 2015, the program began this school year after the district received a Margaret Warner Educational Grant from the Lakewood Rangers Education Foundation.

"It's a program that was created from evidenced-based research on what issues teenage girls face and struggle to cope with in the internet-social media age, as well as age-old issues girls face," DeChant said.

"Topics include building and maintaining healthy relationships, coping with the stress of bullying and aggressive behaviors, fostering healthy self-images and learning how to manage social media-pop culture influences."

Earlier this school year DeChant handpicked 10 girls, who meet during the day and after school. ROX is scheduled to go through the end of the school year. She said the program is going well with recent break-through moments taking place during a discussion about the differences between assertive and aggressive communication.

Looking ahead, the plan is to return next year with the current girls becoming big sisters to mentor 10 incoming freshmen taking their place in the support group. There's also hope at one point for the program to reach down into the middle school.

"The girls want to be heard, they want those connections," DeChant said. "They want to feel that what they think and feel matters. Also, they know that in that group they can express themselves without being judged.

"The girls I have now are amazing. It's been like the best part of my job so far this year."

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