Foley, Ala. -  Foley High School used a $2,500 grant from the South Baldwin Chamber Foundation to hold a Personal Responsibility in Developing Excellence program on Tuesday at the Wharf Conference Center.

    The program was a daylong event for the school's 250 freshman girls, hoping to instill "self-respect and confidence," Terry Burkle, the foundation's vice president, said.

    "There's three middle schools merging into Foley High School and it's the largest school in the county with roughly 1,700 students. So this is just another way for these students to get to know each other better, and the types of students we're really hoping to have an impact with are those who maybe need that extra help trying to build confidence and self-respect and hopefully increase their knowledge and ability to say 'No' to bad behaviors and identify things that aren't good for them like dating violence and abusive behavior."

    The sessions that the freshmen girls attended at the event included: healthy lifestyle, nutrition, dieting and being active; sexually transmitted diseases; alcohol and drug prevention; healthy relationships; stress management; preparing for college now; how to present the best you, hygiene and dressing appropriately; and self defense.

    There were 36 applications for the grants, and 18 were granted by the foundation, Burkle said.

    "The way our teacher-student grants work is teacher will partner with a student and apply for funding for different things," she said. "This happens to be one of 18 grants we awarded. This one in particular was from Margaret Zundel, Foley High School social worker. She partnered with a student to apply for the grant. This was her idea."

    This was the first time the event was held, and Burkle said she hopes to make it an annual event.

    "I would say that what we'll probably try to do is seek other funding sources to sustain this as an annual event," she said. "Everybody was really excited and energized about it."

    The foundation is a charitable non-profit organization that focuses on education enrichment and workforce development.