Selma friendship inspires Girl Code Initiative to connect teen girls with mentors

What began as a big sister-little sister relationship between two Selma High School students has grown into an initiative designed to give other young women the same kind of connection.

Sydney Pritchett was a senior at Selma High when she met then-freshman Zachenzie Millhouse. The two crossed paths through several activities, including the Selma High dance team, FBLA and the Foot Soldiers Park Youth Advisory Board.

As they spent more time together, Pritchett naturally became a mentor to the younger student.

“When we were doing things together, we got closer. Sydney would give good insight, and I looked up to her,” Millhouse said. “We thought other girls deserve to have a relationship like the one Sydney and I have.”

That idea became the Girl Code Initiative, a new mentorship organization pairing high school girls with college-age young women who can offer guidance, encouragement and friendship.

Today, Millhouse is a junior at Selma High and serves as the initiative’s director of Little Sister engagement. Pritchett is a sophomore at Spelman College, where she is studying psychology with a minor in political science and plans to attend law school. She serves as director of Big Sister engagement.

The Selma natives are using the same kind of connection that brought them together as a model for matching the program’s Big and Little Sisters.

Participants complete applications detailing their hobbies, interests and goals, which organizers use to find compatible matches.

The first group will begin meeting this fall, with applications for Little Sisters in grades nine through 12 open through Sept. 15. The first meeting will be held via Zoom on Sept. 6, and the group plans to meet monthly. Additional Big and Little Sisters can join on a rolling basis and participate in future meetings.

Although Girl Code Initiative grew out of a Selma friendship, it is already reaching well beyond the city.

Little Sisters have signed up from Selma, Tuscaloosa, Prattville and Birmingham. The college-age Big Sisters come from communities across Alabama and from as far away as Chicago, New Orleans, Maine, Georgia and Maryland.

They attend a variety of colleges and universities, including Spelman College, Alabama State University, Florida A&M University and Alabama A&M University. Their fields of study are just as diverse, ranging from biology and healthcare to logistics, law, city planning and criminal justice.

That diversity is intentional. Pritchett and Millhouse want girls to have access to young women who can expose them to different careers, colleges, experiences and possibilities for their futures.

Monthly meetings will center on themes designed to help girls grow academically and personally. Topics will include women’s history and influential women, self-control, setting healthy boundaries and becoming the best versions of themselves.

“We want to teach them that it’s OK to say no, and it’s OK to be different from those around you,” Pritchett said. “We want them to understand who they are and that their opinion is just as valuable as anyone else’s.”

The initiative will also provide practical support, including ACT preparation and guidance as students consider college, careers and other opportunities.

But Pritchett said Girl Code is about more than academic preparation. The goal is to create meaningful relationships between young women who might never have met otherwise.

Organizers encourage Big and Little Sisters to stay connected outside the monthly Zoom meetings. Those who live near one another might meet for coffee or lunch, while those separated by distance can build their relationships through phone calls, texts and virtual meetings.

Pritchett hopes the mentorship will eventually create a cycle in which today's Little Sisters become tomorrow's Big Sisters.

The concept mirrors what happened naturally between her and Millhouse: One young woman offering guidance to another, who can eventually do the same for someone coming behind her.

Pritchett and Millhouse hope to eventually establish Girl Code Initiative as a nonprofit organization and continue expanding its reach.

For more information about Girl Code Initiative or to apply, visit girlcodeinitiative.org or find the organization on social media.