The third 12-member class of the Gemstones graduated Saturday afternoon during a program at the Texas Prison Museum Conference Center.

Anntoinette Stanford, Yoland Ross, Brittany Mills, Olivia Grigsby, Darian Furr, Keondra Anderson, Alexus Richardson, Sharolyn Lee, Mariah A. Sanders, Mariah J. Sanders, Alantra Grigsby and Desiree Cortez received certificates and a gift bag from Linda Moten, Gemstones program coordinator.

The 2008-09 class becomes the third to graduate.

“The graduation highlights the completion of a 12-month program of empowerment workshops and volunteer community experiences by the seventh- and eighth-grade girls,” said Elaine Smith, found and executive director of the Gemstones.

The group also heard graduation speaker Jackie Pace, director of operations for the Boys and Girls Club of Walker County.

Pace told the girls to be merchants of hope, have a burning desire to succeed, believe in yourself and the challenge is to be great.

“Do better in school, in church and in your neighborhood,” she said.

Smith said the Gemstones program is designed for seventh- and eighth-grade girls in the Huntsville community.

“The goal is to expose them to enriching experiences, including the cultural arts here in Huntsville,” Smith said. “They spend one year working together, attending monthly workshops on self-empowerment.

“We have etiquette, fitness and health. We tour the university (Sam Houston State) for the educational side. They do quilt squares and the quilt becomes something the Tall Pines Quilt Guild puts together for us.

“We have a workshop in money management and then they volunteer in different community events like the Fair on the Square and Martin Luther King and the Airing of the Quilts. We have an annual tea and then graduation.”

Smith said that when the girls volunteer for an event they write about the experience and complete a photo journal.

“That book shares the experience they’ve had all year as a group,” she said. “The goal is to bring girls together of the same age so they can share their experiences, support each other, build bonds of friendship and grow within the Huntsville community by learning what is available to them, to volunteer in and to be included in.”

Smith said the majority of girls graduating Saturday were seventh-graders and most attend Mance Park Middle School.

“The program is open to junior high school girls who are seventh- or eighth-graders,” she said.

Smith said she designed the program during a plane trip to San Diego, based on things she would like for girls to know.

“I chose this group because they are not working, they’re accessible, they’re not dating, they’re not driving,” she said. “They are more accessible to me. Once I targeted that group I wanted them to be able to write impressions.

“This is a perfect group of young ladies who can be supervised in a setting when we go out.”

Smith said the group is multi-cultural and she would like to expand it to 20 to 25 girls.

“It’s open to anyone who would like to participate,” she said. “Whoever comes to me is who I take. The commitment is to be involved. I want them to come to the meetings because it is all about togetherness and helping out.

“It seems like they are hungry for an opportunity to give of themselves without saying it. I don’t think they know it until they do it. Actually working and giving is fun.

“Whoever comes in becomes that special person. Once you are into it, you are that special person.”

Now the attention turns to registration for the 2009-10 program which is under way through June 10.

Smith said the program is open to all seventh- and eighth-grade girls.

Applications may be obtained at the Huntsville Intermediate and Mance Park Middle schools’ campuses, the Teen Center and the Boys and Girls Club of Walker County.

For more information, phone Smith at (936) 291-0916.