Photo by Marni Rothschild Durlach

Stephanie Pascarella | BLOOM founder

Stephanie thinks big thanks to a travel opportunity she had in high school. A foundation in her small, rural Vermont town sponsored students to study in Asia, so she went to Beijing, was blown away, and vowed to return one day speaking Mandarin Chinese.Years later, Stephanie (fluent in Chinese), is now working to give South Carolina teens a similar world-expanding experience through girlGLOBAL, a program of her budding nonprofit, BLOOM (Building Leaders Out of Mentorship). girlGLOBAL targets 11^th and 12^th grade at-risk girls, introduces them to Asian, Hispanic, French and African studies in a summer intensive program the first year, followed by a travel and language immersion opportunity the following summer. "I hope to generate change, make a difference and give every young girl an opportunity to reach her potential," says Stephanie. "International travel really opened up my world. I hope it will do the same for these girls, and inspire them to give back to their community."