I’d like to note this article is very much geared towards current and past members of the International Order of the Rainbow for Girls. Rainbow is a philanthropic youth organization for girls, ages 11-20-years-olds. It teaches poise, confidence, public speaking, friendship, leadership, and most importantly community service. It may not make sense to you now, but I encourage you to check out gorainbow.org if you’re curious about the organization and its goals.

Anyways, I recently achieved my Majority this past January after 9 years of being an active Rainbow girl in Massachusetts. I loved the organization so much I wrote a letter to my state executive board asking to stay in till I was 21 instead of 20, because unlike some girls I did not get to join at 11, because I did not know about Rainbow until I was 12. While I was in Rainbow, it was my world, my everything. My best friends were in Rainbow, my social life was in Rainbow, and my Friday nights and weekends were usually spent with my assembly instead of at the mall oggling over cute guys with friends from school. This may sound odd and not that fun to outsiders, but I assure you I would not trade my time as a Rainbow Girl for the traditional teenage experience my peers had.

When my 21^st birthday came and went in December, and I attended my last meeting as an active Rainbow girl, I had a batch of mixed emotions going on. At first I felt overwhelming relief. I was so relieved I did not have to wear gowns anymore, I did not have to recite ritual anymore, I did not have to adhere to the often obnoxious and outdated dress codes anymore. I could be myself, totally and freely without any repercussion. But then, I also felt lost. I was not sure what I would be doing with all this newly acquired free time I would be having. I was not sure how to navigate this new adult world I was going to be released into without Rainbow there to hold my hand.

On January 1^st, 2016 I rang in the New Year by receiving my Majority and assuming I would be now lost and forgotten in the land of life after Rainbow. There’s an idea that once you achieve Majority you go off into the adult world and never come back. Many names are forgotten in Rainbow after Majority because new, young girls join the assemblies and have never heard them before.

But what I have learned after my short four months as a Majority girl is this stigma is certainly untrue. But like your time as an active Rainbow girl, your time as a Majority girl is only as good as you make it out to be. Sure you can go on your way and leave Rainbow in your past, but why would you? Why leave something that shaped you into the woman you are today and hope it keeps going strong? It is our job as Majority to not disappear on these girls.

There is often a lot of negative talk about how Rainbow is a girls’ organization run souly by old woman. This poses a large generation gap. The older generations become out of touch with what the younger generations needs to cultivate success and happiness in Rainbow. This is why it’s so crucial for majority girls to not disappear after their Majority service. It’s important for us 20 and 30-something-year-olds to show these young girls what life after Rainbow looks like.

How will the 14-year-old Rainbow Girl aspiring to be a lawyer know the path to success and how to apply Rainbow to that career if she doesn’t have the Majority girl law student being her example? How will the 11-year-old Rainbow Girl with a fear of public speaking know it gets better with out the recent Majority girl telling her story of getting over her fears?

It’s not just something we should be doing; it’s something we NEED to be doing. Just like daughters don’t listen to their mothers and grandmothers advice, Rainbow Girls are reluctant to listen to the older generations advice because they don’t know they’re right until it’s too late. Having the younger generation of Majority involved is a key way to passing on this advice because a teenaged girl can relate better to someone who’s only 5-10-years-older versus someone who’s 30-50-years-older than her.

So my plea to Majority girls everywhere is, please go back. Please become advisory board members and mentors to your assemblies. Join your state's Majority organizations. Help out however way you can in Rainbow. Please guide these girls to their dreams, and pass on the advice you didn’t listen to as a Rainbow Girl so they don’t have to go through the struggles we did. Please make the change you want to see in this organization, not matter how frustrating it may be to do so. Because if you don’t do it, who will?