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Op-Ed: LiveGirl’s Impact Centers on Evolutionary Mentorship and Opportunities

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[Tahlia Scherer is a 2025 New Canaan High School graduate.]

In late March of this year, I was home from Northwestern on spring break. During that week, I met for coffee with my mentor, Sheri West, CEO and founder of LiveGirl. Seated at a two-top near the LPQ cafe window, Sheri and I candidly discussed topics like imposter syndrome and career trajectories, for which she was able to offer valuable advice. 

More than just advice, however, I walked away from our meeting with an understanding of how to turn one’s passions into something profound – something that continues to give back, exponentially. For those unfamiliar with LiveGirl, the non-profit organization was founded in 2014 and aims to equip young women with the skills, mentorship, and opportunities they need to thrive – starting in middle school and continuing through college. 

I was inducted into the world of LiveGirl a little later than most – many attend Camp LiveGirl in the summer as middle schoolers or serve as camp counselors in high school. In my case, becoming a LiveGirl meant stepping into the organization under the title of Shine On Scholar and SHE WORKS intern, where I served on LiveGirl’s marketing team this summer. 

Throughout July, as the LiveGirl marketing intern, I attended Camp LiveGirl in the capacity of a storyteller, but in many ways, was inspired as a camper myself.

Around Town

Town Players of New Canaan Present ‘The Effect’ Sept. 4 to 14

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[The NewCanaanite.com Summer Internship Program is sponsored by Karp Associates.]

For two weeks in September, the Town Players of New Canaan will present “The Effect” – a production that Patricia Spugani, co-president of TPNC, calls “intellectually and emotionally challenging.”

“The Effect” centers on two volunteers, Tristan and Connie, who fall in love during a clinical trial for a dopamine-based antidepressant. Their romance disrupts the trial, leaving their doctors, Dr. James and Dr. Toby, to grapple with ethical questions about their work. The play explores questions about sanity, love, and the limits of medicine. “It blends ethics, romance, and neuroscience into one play,” Spugani said. 

The play’s director, Tyler Small—who some may recognize as Andy Dufresne in the TPNC production of “The Shawshank Redemption”—said, “It’s a really important story living in today’s age. He added: “I think it’s really important.

Around Town

Glass House to Host Annual ‘Community Day’ on Aug. 21

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[The NewCanaanite.com Summer Internship Program is sponsored by Karp Associates.]

Every year, The Glass House hosts “Community Day”—a one-day event where the nonprofit organization gives away free tour tickets to residents on a first-come, first-served basis. It’s a way to “give back to the community and hopefully draw in people who’ve never been to the Glass House or just never felt that it was easy to get in to,” said Kirsten Reoch, the executive director of The Glass House. Each year, residents use a specific code to redeem their free tickets. This year Community Day will be held Thursday, Aug. 21, and that code is NEWCANAAN2025. 

“It’s a special opportunity to get to know new people,” Reoch said. 

“Tours are available on our website and using the code, residents can get up to four tickets,” she added.

Around Town

‘Morning Movie Club’ Welcomes a Second Year of Blockbusters

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[The NewCanaanite.com Summer Internship Program is sponsored by Karp Associates.]

Nine years ago, inspired by their own experiences and identifying a need for it in their own town, two Greenwich women created the Morning Movie Club – a group that meets once monthly to enjoy the latest blockbusters. 

 

Founded by Kerry Anderson and Michelle Howe, the group congregates one Tuesday per month from September to April. Members can enjoy a first-run movie at 10 a.m. sharp – without any previews. 

“We started the club to provide a service because movie theaters are empty on Tuesdays,” Howe said. “People get a choice of two first-run movies, no previews. You’re in and out of the theater to have lunch with your friends, go to a doctor’s appointment or pick up your kids at school.”

Back when the group was based in Greenwich, the club held partnerships with many local businesses such as Green & Tonic. However, these partnerships ended with the collapse of movie theaters following the COVID-19 pandemic.

News

Elm Street Repaving Scheduled for This Week

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[The NewCanaanite.com Summer Internship Program is sponsored by Karp Associates.]

Town officials last month voted to approve a request from the Department of Public Works to repave the one-way stretch of Elm Street downtown. 

“We went out to bid, we publicly advertised, and directly solicited from six different contractors,” according to Public Works Director Tiger Mann. 

The town received two bids back – Burns Construction and FGB Construction and Burns was the low bidder with a total of $186,879.75. “The funds are available on our payment management program and one of the reasons Burns was low here was because they’re already slated to be night-paving the week of August 6 – August 6 and 7 – so they’ve already given us a timeframe to go and do it,” Mann told the selectmen at their July 22 meeting, held at Town Hall and via videoconference. “They’ve done nice work for us in the past.”

The construction will be performed overnight, according to Mann, from about 9 or 10 p.m. to 5 or 6 a.m.

He noted that in the last two times this repair has been done, there has been no conflict with “any of the operations in the downtown business area.”

He continued: “We’d like to get this paved and put this area to bed.”

First Selectman Dionna Carlson and Selectmen Steve Karl and Amy Murphy Carroll voted 3-0 in favor of the contract. It’s been years coming. Murphy Carroll asked Karl, “How excited are you for this?”

Karl replied: “I can’t tell you how excited I am about this.