FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NYC's Pandemic Girls Lost More Than Learning. A Program Based at Columbia Is Giving It Back.
New York, NY — August 3, 2026 — Her Climb, a free, multi-year leadership and college access program for public high school girls from underserved communities across New York City, based at Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism, today released its Summer Intensive I Impact Report, and the findings reveal something the academic recovery conversation has largely missed: the quiet, irreplaceable social and emotional development that COVID-19 took from a generation of girls, and what it actually takes to help them get it back.
The 16 scholars in Her Climb's inaugural cohort were eight, nine, and ten years old when Mayor de Blasio closed New York City schools in March 2020. They spent third, fourth, and fifth grade—the years children learn to raise a hand, present to a room, take a risk in front of peers, and make a friend across a lunch table—behind screens and inside masks.
When all 16 scholars completed an end-of-summer survey on July 24, 2026, the results told a striking story.
Eighty-eight percent arrived on Day 1, July 6, describing themselves as nervous, scared, anxious, or overwhelmed. By July 24, they described themselves as certified, proud, confident, peaceful, and prepared.
Nearly every gain our scholars named was a social one: public speaking, feeling comfortable being seen, learning to connect with someone new.
The most-cited challenge across the cohort: talking to new people.
“This is not a soft outcome,” said Rita Omokha, Founder and Executive Director of Her Climb and adjunct professor at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism. “This is documentation of a developmental gap that is closing because we built a room where showing up mattered, where their voice was expected, and where the girl next to them was counting on them to be there. Schools reopened, but schools were never designed to do what Her Climb does. This kind of social-emotional development is not a lesson plan; it's a practice that requires a specific kind of space: all girls, multi-year by design, psychologically safe, where the entire point is the relationship."
Key Findings from the Summer Intensive I Impact Report:
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100% of scholars completed the end-of-summer survey
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4.6 out of 5 average program rating; 69% gave a perfect score of 5
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94% of scholars left the program in a positive emotional state
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88% arrived anxious; top words at program end: certified, proud, confident, peaceful, prepared
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Top strength developed: public speaking (9 of 16 scholars)
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Most-cited challenge: connecting with new people
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Most-cited turning point: the moment they were asked to stand up, present, and discovered the room was on their side
The Summer Intensive I Impact Report is available at impact.herclimb.org/summer-26.
About Her Climb
Her Climb is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit leadership program for public high school girls from underserved communities across New York City, based at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. Her Climb recruits girls during their freshman year of high school and walks alongside them through graduation, college, and into early career. Rooted in four pillars—leadership, access, wellness, and sisterhood—and delivered across four career tracks—business, creative arts, journalism, and STEM—Her Climb provides a free, multi-year pathway that combines academic preparation, mentorship, industry exposure, and cultural fluency.
Media Contact
Sakura Komiyama Amend
sakura.amend@herclimb.org
212-479-8206