Group grooms students for higher education and life of community service

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Les Femmes Douze, a nonprofit debutante group for high school girls, has been helping to refine local young ladies for 42 years.

The current group of the Les Femmes Douze, the Alpha Tau debutantes -- the name of the group changes each year -- consists of 24 young ladies from more than 10 high schools in the Clark County School District.

The group focuses on exposing the students to mentoring, community service and etiquette. They also provide assistance in acquiring scholarship information, as well as aid in the process of applying for colleges and studying for college entrance exams.

Collectively, the members donated over 2,000 hours of community service to a variety of businesses, churches and other agencies throughout the valley last year.

Katie Sayles, a debutante and senior at Advanced Technologies Academy, said her experience with the group has been rewarding.

"We have different people come to talk to us about jobs and colleges," Sayles said. "And it was fun getting to meet new people and really get to know them."

The group recruits students beginning this month.

Karen Williams, the publicist for the group, said the qualifications are few.

"We just ask that the young ladies have at least a 2.0 (grade point average) and that they are higher-education-minded," Williams said. "Not necessarily college, just some sort of higher education."

Another requirement is that student members of the group cannot be mothers.

And although the group generally consists of young African Americans, it is not a requirement, Williams said.

"We don't limit it to African Americans," Williams said. "It just kind of happens that way, but we don't exclude people because of that."

Les Femmes Douze was formed by 12 -- hence douze, which is the french word for twelve -- African American women in 1964.

"It was just a group of 12 African American women who wanted to develop a service organization for young African American ladies, and to present them to society," Williams said.

Each year the members of the debutante group are presented to society through their annual debutante cotillion which is usually held on the third Saturday of November.

Mellicia Robinson, debutante and senior at Rancho High School, said the cotillion was worth the practice. She also noted that being part of the group was a worthwhile experience as well.

"We actually got to meet different professionals and other girls with similar future goals and we did community service and had meetings every Monday," Robinson said.

Robinson fulfilled her community service requirements at a local medical center working in the pediatric department.

"I interacted a lot with children," Robinson said. "I read to them and colored with them. I liked it."

Robinson will be heading off to attend Savannah State University in the fall to study in the school's biology/pre-med program.

Sayles also plans on attending college, but is still weighing her options of attending a university in Arizona, or staying in the valley and attending UNLV.

"Overall it was a nice experience," Robinson said. "It's more like a once-in-a-lifetime thing, and I really enjoyed myself."

For more information on Les Femmes Douze, contact Karen Williams at 799-3742.