I remember vividly when my Mom handed me my very own (and first) copy of Louisa May Alcott’s ‘Little Women’. The cover and binding jumped out at me: a glossy red color, young women in fancy dresses and a huge binding, as a 5th grader I was enamored, excited, and a bit overwhelmed to get started.
I remember pouring through the pages each night, so excited to engage with the characters and left hanging each night, the excitement to begin again tomorrow. The pages were filled with such attention holding plot lines, life lessons, and coming of age notions for a budding adolescent girl like myself. I was hooked. I remember it being my first ‘adult’ book. That’s the way I saw it at least.
What Little Women has always represented to me, even back then, is threefold: the importance of literacy and education, women’s empowerment, and the ability to achieve one’s dreams. This story has a special way of illustrating each of these in a profound, but relatable way.
Fast forward almost 25 years, and now Pinnacle Peak Pictures is launching the Little Women I loved with a modern twist. The classic coming of age tale that I fell in love with so long ago is now a film set in our current world with familiar young women who face today’s challenges. This is an opportunity for a whole new generation to experience the tradition of Little Women and hang on every word the way I did.
Now, in my role as the Executive Director of Classes 4 Classes all 3 of these tenets are of even more particular importance to me: the importance of education, the need to empower ALL people and the belief that we can each achieve our dreams, no matter how lofty. We strive everyday as an organization to educate, empower and allow all students to follow and pursue their dreams.
We do this by actively engaging K-8 students in social emotional learning. We do this by giving students an opportunity to have tangible experience with being kind, compassionate and empathetic. We do this by providing teachers across the United States with a platform to engage and connect with one another. We believe that when students have tangible, hands on experience with these lessons of being kind, compassionate and empathetic, there simply isn’t room for hate.
As an organization we are always striving to forge partnerships and collaborations with like minded groups and individuals. We believe that the only way we can institute real change, is together, so the more the better! When we first connected with the Producers of the new Little Women film, we knew that this was a project we not only wanted to get behind, but needed to! Then when I watched the trailer and film I was filled with an even greater urge to help get this message out there…it’s timely, needed and necessary.
We at Classes 4 Classes are so grateful for this opportunity to collaborate with, and help launch Little Women’s new release in theaters nationwide this September. We can’t wait to share the film with all of our classrooms in over 37 states. We know that it is the perfect way to kick off the new school year.
We firmly believe that the tenets of the movie, are the same that we embody as an organization, and we know that our students and teachers will benefit immensely from the lessons learned. There is no greater gift that we can give to our students than believing that their dreams can and will come true, if they simply work towards them!
Check out this incredible trailer today! We can all make our dreams a reality…
#LittleWomen #DreamBig #BeTheChange #C4C #BeKind