LAWRENCE -- The rules of the Girls Empowerment Club at Bellesini Academy in Lawrence are helpfully explained by two colorful contracts written in marker, one for the sixth graders and one for the seventh graders.

Both contracts are covered in signatures and doodles by the students. One of the names on the contract is "Jesus Christ." The rules on the contracts include "Compliment each other," "What people say stays here," "Don't break girl code," "No gossiping," "Have fun," and, curiously, "Try not to use brainrot."

The final rule was put in place to ban the girls from using internet slang and memes, colloquially called "brainrot" due to their lack of intellectual rigor. One student joked that seventh grader Regina Calixte has been using the slang term "skibidi" a lot, and is trying to abstain from using it.

"We try to formulate our identity outside of social media, so we try not to talk about social media and trends and things like that," said Maggie Dow, the club's advisor. "In Girls Empowerment Club, it's much more, like, who are you here, what are your relationships with each other, and I think that's really important."

The Girls Empowerment Club has existed at Bellesini Academy for three years. It was funded by a grant from the Women's Fund of Essex County, given to increase the resilience of adolescent girls. The club teaches girls the "Seven Cs of Resilience": Character, Control, Coping, Contribution, Confidence, Competence, and Connection. On April 10, when The Pilot visited, the girls were learning about connection by decorating cookies together.

"I feel that a Catholic education develops character, and that is what's happening here in this program," said Acting Head of School Doreen Keller. "That these students, these young ladies, are becoming young ladies of strong character, strong faith, resilience, and determination, that they can be successful in whatever they want to do moving forward, whether it be in middle school or high school or college and beyond."

Bellesini Academy was founded in 2001 as a tuition-free school to serve low-income Lawrence residents. Its 120 fifth- to eighth-grade students attend school 12 hours a day for 11 months a year. In the last 10 years, every single Bellesini graduate went on to attend high school and college. Lately, the girls have been asking Dow for help with their applications to Catholic or other private high schools.

"They were getting really excited by that," Dow said. "So that was really nice to see: them building up their confidence."

Dow teaches fifth- and sixth-grade science and coaches girls basketball. She often talks with her students about what it means to be a good friend and what high school will have in store for them.

"There's definitely times where we have some conflicts between them, but it's nice to have a space like this where we can talk those kinds of things out," she said.

The girls' experiences remind Dow of her own, except for how social media has made communication with peers constant.

"I don't think the experience of being a middle school girl has changed," she said.

Seventh grader Jessica Bahati was "in a dark time," but connecting with the girls in the club got her out of it.

"It made me feel good to be around all my friends," she said.

She wants to study physics and go to Harvard or Yale when she's older.

"It helped me figure out more about myself and connect with my other classmates, and it's really nice because I got to learn more about myself while having fun," she said.

Seventh grader Elisha Suruy, who wants to be a veterinarian, said that being in the club taught her about herself and introduced her to new friends.

"It feels like a dream come true," she said, "because usually, people from schools don't like to communicate, and this helps me communicate with them, get to know them."