FAQs

What does YWiSE stand for?
Why do the girls have to wear uniform?
What is the main objective of YWiSE Club?
Who is the founder of YWiSE Club?
How did YWiSE Club come to be?
Has YWiSE Club been inspired by some other type of club?
What type of curriculum do you use?
Is there homework involved? How much?
Is this a “by invitation only” club, or can anybody join?
Who are the Coaches?
Do you train your Coaches?
Are there any other YWiSE groups close to where I live?
I’d like to start a YWiSE Club in my community, what do I need, how much money do I need to invest?
Do you allow visitors to come and watch before they decide to join?
We just found out about you, can we join now, or do we have to wait until next year?
I missed the Parent Orientation Meeting and it’s a pre-requisite to join, how can I still join?
I’d like to join but we cannot afford the registration fee.
Aren’t some of the topics too strong for some girls? How much sex do they discuss?
Being a Christian club, shouldn’t you be all-inclusive? Why do you have pre-requisites to join?

Only during our ceremonies they wear the complete uniform. To the Meetings our members wear a YWiSE polo shirt with modest pants, or long skirt of their choice. There are several reasons for the uniforms:

Identification of a real organization
To encourage camaraderie
Our members look neater
They won't have the pressure to impress or worry about what to wear.
They'll be less tempted to judge others by what they wear.
Avoid having to deal with inappropriate dress
It is definitely less distractive.

YWiSE Club is designed to impact the generations to come by helping, encouraging, and motivating teen and pre-teen young ladies to become what God intends for them to be; Wise, Virtuous, and Courageous! Therefore, YWiSE Club has several main objectives:

To encourage the girls to love God, (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) with all their heart, soul, mind and strength, according to the teachings of the Bible, and live a life that pleases Him.
To eliminate the negative peer pressure in our daughters with positive peer encouragement or reinforcement! Help them to really grasp who they are in Christ. When they know who they are in Christ, they won't have the need of people's approval, because they know they have God's! They'll be free to do what is right. They won't have the need to please their peers by doing what is wrong, whether it is drugs, or premarital sex when they are older, or just simply not being nice to an unpopular person!

The founder and director of YWiSE Club is Claudia R. Barrett, with the help and support of her wonderful and loving husband Jeff. In January 1984 Claudia became a Christian by receiving Jesus as her personal Lord and Savior and surrendering her life to Him. Because of this, what she considers her life’s most important decision, Claudia’s worldview and lifestyle has changed dramatically during these twenty-something years as a believer. Claudia and Jeff have two daughters, whom they have homeschooled since 1997.

For sometime my husband and I have been praying about how we can better affect our young ladies’ minds and lives for the Lord Jesus Christ. Through a series of circumstances, the Lord led us to start YWISE Club, Young Women in Search of Excellence, a unique Christian Club for teen and preteen girls, to reinforce the Christian values and Biblical principles taught at home by encouraging them to put them into practice in their daily lives. A Place to help them realize who they are in Christ; that they do not have to be conformed to this world, not only in what it refers to sex, dress or drugs, but also in how to stand confidently for what is right. How not to allow negative peer pressure to dictate their actions and attitudes.
(For more on this topic, please click on the YWiSE Vision)

We took some ideas from various groups. However, in our discussions we will cover topics that teen and preteen young women are curious about, and if not really curious, that they need to talk about. It is not exclusively a Bible Study. We will see what the Word of God has to say concerning a topic, memorize a verse for each meeting, and try to apply it to our daily lives.

As our curriculum we use the Bible and Christian books and workbooks for young ladies. They will also learn to sew by hand, crochet, sing Christian songs and Hymns, have short lessons on Etiquette and Personality, Poise and Femininity, as well as basic public speaking skills. In addition, those interested in choreography and Scripture Cheerleading will have an opportunity to work on it.

Yes. The girls will come prepared to each Meeting with a short homework that consists of reading a few scriptures from the Bible and answering the questions in their workbook, they will also memorize one scripture. 20 to 30 minutes a day three times a week is all they need. They can easily incorporate this in their daily schedule, or as part of their daily time with God. This short assignment will help make the YWiSE Vision a reality in their lives; that they blossom into the women, wives, and mothers that God intends for them to be!

Any teen or preteen girl that would like to be a part of our Club, because she really desires to have a deeper relationship with God, wants to know how to become a young woman of excellence, understands, and appreciates the benefits of being in the company of godly friends, that also have the same aspirations for their lives, is welcome to participate. She needs to have a teachable spirit and be mature enough to receive correction and instruction, as well as constructive feedback. A parent must attend a Parent Orientation Meeting and agree with Our Vision. (See more regarding our Pre-requisites in Question 19)

Our Coaches are generous and giving godly Christian women (usually moms of our members) who recognize the importance of mentoring young women, according to Titus 2:4-6. They graciously sacrifice their personal time, and are willing to help and impart godly wisdom into the lives of these precious young ladies. They support our vision and have filled out the required documents for Coaches, providing personal information regarding their faith, personal beliefs, and have been approved to be a Coach.

At this time this is our only location. However we have prepared a kit that is available to godly women who desire to make an impact in their community by starting a YWiSE Club at the location, day and time that is more convenient to them. We want to influence as many teen and pre-teen young women for the Lord Jesus! If you are a generous and giving person, and would like to know how to start a YWiSE Club in your community, please contact us, we'll be glad to hear from you!
If you can't start a club where you live, and you live in Houston, TX, or in the surrounding area, since the girls meet for three hours, you have plenty of time to do some other activities in this part of town, either by yourself, or with your other children. Planning ahead of time will make the most for everyone in your family!

To start a club you only need to purchase a Leadership Kit. If you would like to become an Authorized YWiSE Club Sponsor you will need to submit a completed Club Sponsor Application (you will find it in the kit). The price of the kit is $129.99. This start-up cost will be recovered once you sign-up five or six members. The kit contains step-by-step instructions and the essentials to start a YWiSE Club.
The annual registration fee that you would charge each member only covers part of the cost of the entire club operation, i.e. polo shirt, book, and/or workbook, and most craft supplies. There are other expenses that you will incur in order to operate your club efficiently. YWiSE Club will allow you to have one major fundraiser a year to cover those expenses. Once you fill out the Club Sponsor Application Packet and have been approved to become an Authorized YWiSE Club Sponsor, you will receive details regarding fundraisings. To read more about this click on "Start a YWiSE Club in your Community", in the home page.

All the topics we discuss (see Activities) are topics that will only help our young ladies to become better daughters, better sisters and better Christians, and will help them understand why we believe what we believe. We encourage their moms to read the chapters and discuss the questions with them, it creates a wonderful bonding between mother and daughter. The topic of sex only comes up when we discuss waiting for that special person God created for each of them to be their husband. We don’t get into “heavy duty” talks about sex; that’s their parents' privilege and responsibility. We believe that in order for the girls to have a mindset for purity, mental, emotional, and physical, they need to know what God thinks about these issues when they are young. In today’s society most of them have been exposed to some type of wrong view of sex either from TV, music, a magazine cover at the grocery store, or from other children in their neighborhood, school, or church. They need to know what is God’s purpose for sex and how the enemy has perverted it, so when these issues come up with their peers, a young woman feels confident that she knows what is right and what is not, and not be caught off guard! Also knowing that she's not the only young person that believes what she believes (because her YWiSE sisters also share her beliefs) will help her to resist temptation. They need to know and believe that God created sex for a biblical recognized married couple. If we wait until they are older, it might be a little too late for some of them.

In order to accomplish the YWiSE Vision, we need unity and agreement. For that reason only the girls who really desire to have a deeper, more meaningful relationship with the Lord Jesus, and want to know how to become young women of excellence, can join. As much as we would like to have the club full of young ladies, we understand that not everybody desires to abide by our standards. When a girl joins the club for other reasons, she generally will not participate in the meetings with the same enthusiasm as the other members. Most likely she will not have worked on her homework assignment with dedication, seeking God’s will and guidance, which is a crucial part of our vision. Her attitude will be noticed and will only bring discouragement to the rest of the group. YWiSE is for girls who really desire to be in the company of friends that share their spiritual goals and aspirations for their lives. We believe the only way to win over negative peer pressure is with God’s Word and positive reinforcement from both peers and parents. (See more regarding Pre-requisites in Question 9)