Though the last day of school is a month away, Durango School District 9-R is already riveted on preparing this year’s students for next year’s challenges.

Every eighth-grade girl in the district gathered Tuesday at the La Plata County Fairgrounds for “Girls to Women,” a full day of introspection, social awareness and anti-bullying training with a dash of feminist sociology.

It was the 13th year the district has offered Girls to Women, which is designed to help eighth-grade girls socially transition from the Lord of the Flies-like pressures of childhood to the Lord of the Flies-like pressures of adulthood.

Though the program, offered through the Women’s Resource Center, is in its 13th year, nothing about its curriculum was stodgy.

Instructors fluently invoked literary characters such as the hunter Katniss Everdeen of the Hunger Games trilogy and the magical genius Hermione Granger of the Harry Potter series in discussing admirable models of modern femininity.

By comparison, students agreed that while Bella Swann, the Eyore-ish heroine of the Twilight series, enjoys many men’s undying love, she lacks other attributes, such as a compelling personality.

At 8:30 a.m., girls from Miller, Escalante and Mountain middle schools – many of whom will be freshman at Durango High School next year – introduced themselves, merged and eventually broke into eight sub-groups focusing on self-defense, cyber-bullying, intellectual self-worth and healthy relationships.

In one group, the girls spoke of stereotypes. Students described being called homosexual, “emo” and anorexic, while one girl said she was often called “too perfect.”

District spokeswoman Julie Popp said the district was looking to replicate the program for boys, possibly using Epic Day, an anti-bullying event that is part of the Hero Project, as a model.

cmcallister@durangoherald.com