October 14th 2015

Hi, it’s Christina –

Good Afternoon!

Sorry for the delay, I couldn't get the event photos to load, but as promised, below are the responses and pictures from last Friday night’s SheTalks event. Everything is EXACTLY the way the writer wrote it – I did not edit anything. With the exception of a few adults who were at the event and participated in the exercise, all of the authors range from 8 – 14 years old. I think they did an AMAZING job, and I think you’ll be able to find a few budding authors in the group. REMEMBER, they only had 10 minutes to complete this assignment.

Without further ado …

Yugi L. – ?? Grade

This is the picture Yugi drew to go
along with her story.

Once a tiger escaped from the zoo at Tennessee. On 10-23-2001, the tiger stole a 

ball! He tossed the ball about. He threw it back to the zoo. Then he got caught. He just wanted a ball. THE END

Our Hostess Tara with her friend, and fellow
Girl Scout, Shefali

Ami G. – 4^th Grade

Once I went to Tennesse and saw a giant tiger than ever. Tossing it some food he ate a lot of food. We were just going on a hike. We had plenty of food so I didn’t care how much it ate. By the way, he or she was really fat. After a little while it was getting dark so we gave the tiger some more food and when it went to sleep we started home. When we got home I dreamed that the tiger was my pet. The next morning, I saw the same tiger wandering around. It ran over to me at first I thought it was going to bite me but instead she tried hugging me. So she became my pet forever. The End

The girls fought a crazy thunderstorm to get to the event.

Charlotte M. – 4^th Grade

One sunny day, I was at a zoo in Tennessee. First, we looked at the monkeys.

“Oooh, Oooh, Aahh, Ahh” they went. They were so loud, we had to cover our ears. Next, we visited the tiger. He was so beautiful, with black and orange fur. I looked like like he was playing basket ball, because he kept tossing the the ball in one direction.

Tara started off by explaining what SheTalks was all about.

Hailey B. – 4^th Grade (Birthday Girl - Tennessee)

I’m in Tennessee and I am going to the zoo. My favorite animal is the tiger. I love when they roar. But today I am not going to see the tigers I am going to be tossing fish to feed the pangwins. My dad works there so I get to go every day from now on to feed the pangwins. I really can’t wait! The End

Isabella J. – 4^th Grade

I started with a PowerPoint explaining who I was.
The slide in the background is "I'm a Wife"

Once there was a family going to Tennessee. They landed and went to there very new house. There was a zoo right around the corner so the family decided to go to the zoo. “I want to see the tigers” a little girl said to her mom. They walked down to tiger village. “I want a cookie!” demanded the little girl. They got a cookie and the little girl saw this really pretty tiger and went close to it the tiger tossed her cookie and poof! Split it into pieces. “Waaaaaa.” The little girl went. Suddenly the family went back to there new home.

There were two SheTalks events, and each of the 4 speakers
had a topic she was to theme her speech around.

Olivia A. – 4^th Grade

One day my family said “Lets all go to the Tennessee Zoo!” I was as happy as a monkey with a banana! So my family and I paked up and got ready to go. On the way to Tennessee I got a little bored so I pulled out my ipod and listened to some music. After what seemed forever we pulled into the zoo parking lot. All of a sudden I saw a tiger roaming the parking lot! I was amazed. Then some circus men came into the parking lot tossing balls of fire! It turned out we did not have to go to the zoo after all, we already had it in the parking lot!

My topic was "Courage".  I told the girls
my birthday was April Fools Day, then
I asked whose birthday was coming up.

Ella H. – 5^th Grade

Ted the Tiger was in Tennessee tossing Turtle into his mouth.

Elom A. – 5^th Grade

One day I went outside and saw a massive tiger on my front lawn! “What are you doing”? The boy asked the tiger. “Oh hi, I’m just picking up my babies from Tennessee, and just tossing a pickup truck from one side to another.” The tiger said. “Wait you can talk.” “Well yes.” So the tiger went to make some new friends.

3 girls' birthdays were coming up. This is Katie, my victim.
I had her stand, face the girls, and then I asked her to sing
Happy Birthday to them in front of the whole room.

Isabella J. – 5^th Grade

One day I went to the zoo in Tennessee. There, I saw a tiger tossing potatoes ant turtles up and cout them in his mouth. Then he ate them. The End!

Katie B. – 5^th Grade

Once upon a time there was a pink and blue tiger in Tennessee. He was eat fish and cookies with milk. He went to go shirts the super market. He had to stock up on and hats. Then it went home and slept on a marshmellow. He called his friend the lion to start tossing balls and fish. Later they went to the zoo to see the people in the cages and not the animals. Then they saw a pig eating bacon. So they went home to have a sleep over with the turtle and the ant. They lived happily ever after.

These are Charlotte & Mia, two of our birthday girls.

Meilin F. – 5^th Grade

Once upon a time their was a tiger that lived in Tennessee. He wanted to explore the new world. So he went to the Tennessee zoo and he saw a penguin and tryed to eat him but he noticed a kid tossing his cookies so he went up and ate the boys cookies the boy ran away to the penguin home and flew away with the penguin, as for the tiger he lived happy with the other penguins at the zoo.

Obviously Katie wasn't going to sing in front of the whole
group (don't worry, I prepped her to what I was going to do),
so then I asked ALL the girls to stand up and help Katie.

Michelle T. – 5^th Grade

I saw a tiger dancing on a rainbow in Tennessee tossing a cookie.

Preeta J. – 6^th Grade

Once, there was a little girl that went to the park on her birthday. It was in northern Tennessee. Her brother saw a tiger in the far corner, and asked his sister if he could go pet a “cat”!, and went to see the tiger. He saw that the tiger was holding Ritz® Crackers in one hand and a cup of coffee in the other. He was also holding a newspaper. He put the newspaper down and saw my brother looking at him, and tossed his coffee and Ritz® all over my brother! My brother came back to me, soaking wet. He said a tiger was a cat and started crying and turning red

(Preeta actually put the ® after Ritz on her paper. Love it!)

Bekah L. – 7^th Grade

The moral of the exercise was things aren't so scary when
you have others around you, to support and encourage you.
It's a lot easier to have courage when you know you're
not alone.

One time I was living in Tennessee. When I was at a baking contest inside of a zoo, I baked cookies hoping that I would win the prize money. The prize money was $2,000. I got there and wanted to go look at all of the animals because I arrived early. I put my cookies inside of a locker so they wouldn’t drop on the ground, plus I had a container I just didn’t want to have the sun beaming down on them. I started at the tigers. I started at the tigers. They said there was supposed to be 3 tigers but there were only 2, apparently one was at a contest. Later in the day I got my cookies and headed for the cookie competition. When I got there I saw where the other tiger was, the other tiger was a judge for the competition! Everyone else got judged for their cookies and then if it didn’t like them the tiger tossed the cookies in the pond. The tiger came to my plate and it roared in my face after it tried mine, apparently it met it liked mine!! I WON THE COMPETITION!!!

I was thrilled with this group of girls. I did not just stand at
the front of the room and talk at them; they interacted with
very little prompting, if any. We all had fun, and I was quite
impressed, and inspired by them.

Charlotte C. – 7^th Grade (Birthday Girl - Toss)

Running down the dark, musty, hallway, Oz ran for his life. Hearing the shouts behind him, he ducked into a hidden corner. Oz had been living peacefully in Tennessee until his best friend returned. Sasha had disappeared five years prior, and no one had heard from her since. Then, she reappeared, with news about the mysterious gone-missing animals, including the Sala Tiger, the last of its kind. Seeing an air duct, Oz shimmied his way up it, soot darkened his golden hair. When he emerged from the underground, Sasha was waiting for him.

“Took you long enough.” She called, next to the beat up van, aka the getaway limo. Tossing her the keys, he got into the passenger seat.

“Where to next?” He was getting tired of running around the world, hunting down hidden clues, and hiding from danger.

Grace M. – 7^th Grade

This is Ingrid, Tara's other assistant for the evening.

Monday morning dawned on the city of Tennessee. Me and my class at school were going to the new zoo. Apparently there was this amazing new tiger there. The second I walked into our class there was a change in atmosphere. The class was buzzing with excitement. We boarded the busses that would take is to and from the zoo. The moment we pulled in the driveway it was amazing. The first thing that my teacher Ms. Wang decided that we would see was the new amazing and exotic tiger.

When we were looking at the exibit, a kid in my class Max had goldfish crackers in an open bag and was eating them. Then, it happened. The tiger roared so loud that Ma tossed the bag of goldfish because he was so scared. The crackers flew everywhere. When the tiger roared Max had also screamed at the top of his lungs. My whole class looked in his direction. It turned out to be a weird trip because the goldfish flying everywhere.

This is Thuy An, and her theme was Advocacy.  Part of
being a good advocate for a cause is being able to articulate
your passion effectively. Thuy An  has held several positions
within our local government.

Julia H. – 7^th Grade

“NO!” I cried. My tiger has escaped. Last time I saw him we were tossing a football in the front yard. I bought my tiger in Maine, but now we live in New York. I can’t believe I let him go. The best tigers are from Maine. So, I went to Grandpa’s vacation home there and bought one. We stayed at his house because picking a tiger takes a while to do. That’s what Stan, my friend from Tennesse told me. He is super wise. Anyway, mom says I get distracted a lot. Did you know dog years count by 7s? Hey, I’m in 7^th grade? Does that mean I have 7 lives? Wait what was I writing about? Hmm, I think I want to buy a tiger. My friend Stan has one. Maybe I should write a pursuasive paper on why to get a tiger. I will call grandpa in Maine, he can help me write it.

Kayla P. – 7^th Grade

Thuy An taught the group how to prepare a speech and after
they did, they were encouraged to present their "cause". Out of
over 30 girls, only 2 elected not to speak, however, they did get
up in front of the room to lend support to their friends. See, I
told you I was impressed.
Btw - our 3rd birthday girl is the young lady with the flower
in her hair.

The trouble maker tiger just earned his wings! He was so excited, the tiger has been waiting his whole life for his wings to grow in. He knew exactly what to do first. The tiger flew high into the sky with a water balloon. He looked down at tenessee and waited for the perfect moment. Then, when the time was right he tossed the balloon down onto another tiger! The wet tiger was flabbergasted! He had no idea where the water balloon came from… until he looked up. The trouble maker tiger was caught! His parents took away his flying privliges for a whole week! But he learned his lesson, with great power comes great responsibility.

Here's a picture of most of the group. A few had to leave
early, so they do not appear in the photo.

Maura S. – 7^th Grade

It was a sunny day in Tennessee. The birds were singing and the paperboy was throwing the newspapers. At the zoo, there was anything but piece and quiet. The lions were roaring, the monkeys were uh uh and ah ahing. But in the corner of the jungle exhibit, was just trying to get a nap. Until he heard a loud beep. The door to his cage swung open. It was feeding time! But Mr. Tiger wasn’t very hungry, so when the zookeeper gave him his daily breakfast, the tiger picked it up and threw it right back to the zookeeper. “What did you do that for?” zookeeper said, covered in chocolate protein pudding. The pudding was surprisingly warm, and the zookeeper realized, it wasn’t the tigers daily chocolate protein pudding. The tiger smirked and laughed onto his back. The zookeeper closed the door and went to the bathroom to clean up.

The Girl Scouts
So much more than just
yummy cookies!

Mia C. – 7^th Grade (Birthday Girl - Tiger)

The waxing moon cast pale shadows onto the three figures slipping through the trees. Like ninjas they crept quickly but silently, for their task required utmost skill and concentration. Simultaneously, the trio leapt at an inhuman speed and gracefully landed, perching themselves on the branches of an oak tree.

“Ready?” One of the figures asked the others.

“On three,” the closest one replied, and within those three seconds, the figures tossed themselves into the dark Tennessee sky. What landed on the dry, prickly grass was not the human forms that had taken to the trees, though. There, huge against the distant moon, stood three massive tigers.

Sophia N. - 7^th Grade

The graceful Persion tiger strutted across the walkway behind the gate. Anastasia the tiger was familiar to all of the attention. At the Nashville Zoo, in Tennessee, Anastasia was the main attraction. She was advertised all over Tennessee, as new admirers piled in, hoping to catch a glimpse of the mysterious beauty. Her snow white fur shone brighter than the sun as customers filed in. Next to the fluttering flamingos, one could find savory cookies to toss to Anastasia. She gulped the delacacies, mouth full, as more cookies flew her way. A scraney girl came her way, tears rolling down her cheeks, fright in her eyes. Anastasia purred, trying to calm the nervous girl down.

As I said, this was a two day event. Here's some shots from
the first SheTalks...

Taylor W. – 7^th Grade

I never ending adventar

One day in tennessee a little girl and her family decied to go out And explore. But only her two brothers came. So they just started to walk into the middle of no wear. Soon her brothers wanted to go home beacuse in the dark the tigers and wolf and ciyodes start to come out. She said to her brothers Im not ready yet so she kept on walk and soon her brothers stoped standing around and walked. Soon after that all they heared was a loud roar. Then they saw a tiger walking out from behind a rock with a dead anial in his teeth her brothers both tossed there mothers home made pizza. So they ran all the way back home. By the time they got home it was dark and their mother yelled so much that South decoda could hear her. So they all got sent to there rooms the end.

Jayne spoke about passion, and how if you are passionate
about what you do, it will never feel like "work". Jayne is
the owner of our local ice cream shop & the creator of
absolutely beautiful ice cream cakes.

Gabriella D. – 8^th Grade

Once upon a time, there was a tiger named Lily. She lived with her trainer, John Murray, in Tennessee. She felt like a princess, for she was always the center of attention at her training center. Although she was only a year old, Lily felt like a know it all.

One day, John came in her cage to see her. A smile was plastered on his face and his eyes had crinkles on the corners.

“What’s happening?” Lily asked after giving him a big tiger hug?

“You’re going to be with your mother for the first time.” Lily didn’t even know she had a mom. She leapt with joy as John pulled her collar to meet her mother, who was in the zoo.

When she got there, she saw an old tiger who was tossing her other cubs in the air, and instantly joined them. Lily was finally reunited with her mom and they lived happily ever after.

Courtney spoke on Community. Courtney is active with
several charities in our area - I'm pretty sure she has even
started a few charities on her own.

Gracie C. – 8^th Grade

From The Eyes Of A Red Panda

There’s a tiger here now. His eyes are a sickly yellow and have daggers in them. I watch him daily from my lonely habitat.

There’s other red pandas here with me, of course. But they don’t really do anything, or share my obsession about the tiger.

I wonder about him, his story. How did he get all the way here to this run-down zoo in Tennessee? I worry about him slightly. He always tosses and turns in his sleep. I’m sure that’s normal for tigers, but once the moon reveals itself, and the pale light shines upon him, I can’t help but let my curiosity get the best of me.

Things are rather dull here, in the Zoo of Tennessee, but this creature has brought some interest here.

I wonder.

Several of the girls who attended the 1st event came to the 2nd

Graciela C. – 8^th Grade

They was the greatest specticle in Tennessee. Lots of people were angry that the many sleepless nights, and billions of dollars that went into the project was being used by a circus. The more reasonable among them acknowledged the fact that this was a test run to see if this technology could work for the better. They chose the state and town at random. That’s where they got Tennessee. Then they chose an animal. Something endangered so if the species died during the experiment they would have gone out with a bang and left the earth doing something that was supposed to better the human race. They started training them in these labs. This made the animal activists nearly mad because of the cold, steril, and unstimulating nature of the small rooms. And a short amount of time there they were tossing bowling pins in a circus for all the world to see. What was the intention you ask. They manipulated the genetics of these tigers to have apposable thumbs.

Angela Z – Adult

Story: One night I heard a tiger roaring in my backyard. I was scared to death. I tried to toss a stone toward it through my window on the second floor to scare it away but it was not moving at all. So I called the police and told them about the tiger. So I called the police and told them about the tiger. I said I live in the urban area tiger shouldn’t appear it at all! The police told me that there’s a tiger escaped from a zoo in Tennessee! Is it the tiger that has made all the way to NJ? That’s unbelievable!

Hum, it must be my garden that attracts it to stay!

I have no idea what this activity was, but it sure looks like
the girls were having a blast.

Anonymous – Adult

It was a dark and stormy Friday evening. The wind was blowing all of the freshly fallen autumn leaves all over the town of Hillsborough. A courageous girl scout was working on a project called “She Talks.” As she stood in front of a group of engaged girl scouts, she gave them a list of words and an activity. The words were, “tiger,” “Tennessee,” and “tossing,” and the girls had to include these words in a story…

Anonymous – Adult

The turn out for the 1st event was impressive as well.

Tricia the terrific tiger took the slow train to Nashville Tennessee. She was on her way to try her talents to the country music stage. On her way the train was tossing and swaying with a rhymthic click, clonk & clang along the rails. On the way there was Leo the Lion, George the giraffe, and Ollie the Otter. With the rhyms of the rails they each found their own group song.

Cristen H. – Adult

“Tiger”! I yelled when I spotted those eyes in the bush. My first trip out of Tennessee and I’m going to be eaten by a tiger! I knew I had mere seconds to decide what to do. I tossed ideas through my head, every episode of national geographic flashed in front of me. Thoughts races, those eyes got lower, lower: this is it, that tiger is going to pounce! Ugh! – I am not cat food, I can do this! I told myself. I looked up, down, left, then right… Nothing, no options – what do I do? How do I escape? I close my eyes, breathe in deep and exhale. Tossing the biggest rock I could find, to my left, I ran to my right as fast as I could. I heard a fierce sound come from that tiger and the wind lifted me to speeds I’ve never felt before. All of a sudden – BAM! Oh, it hurts. What happened?

Kathy G. – Adult

We crept quietly along the bank of the darkest river I ever drifted down. Deep in the hills of Back Water, Tennessee you find the best places to go frogging. At first it sounds like folks are tossing rocks in the water, but, after closer examination and a really bright spot light, you realize that the frogs are plopping themselves into the murkey waters. This may sound scary to you but, alot happens after you catch them all is more frightening than being chased by a wild tiger. “Dinner” calls the cook master and right there on your plate are the biggest, freshest, tastiest frog legs you will ever eat!

See, didn’t I tell you they did a great job? There was quite a bit of imagination flying around the room on Friday. Perhaps it was from the raging thunderstorm going on outside at the time. Who knows, I’m just pleased as punch they did such a superb job and seemed to have fun doing it.

Until next time – I hope you have a WONDERFUL day & Happy Writing!