Elizabeth Berkley Visits North High School

Female students from took a break from the usual school routine Wednesday to participate in an assembly with actress Elizabeth Berkley. The format was a friendly group therapy session with basic, honest, open girltalk among nearly 700 students and Berkley.

Berkley, who has traveled the country with ask-elizabeth.com, a self-esteem organization she formed for girls in 2006, is now on a 10-city Q&A tour with her book "Ask Elizabeth."  Her presentation gave the girls a venue to share personal dilemmas, internal conflicts and bothersome situations with boyfriends, friends, parents—the stuff usually reserved for private time, late nights, weekends, maybe the hallways between classes.

That is if the girls have the opportunity, and the nerve, to discuss what's on their minds. 

Berkley, known for her roles in Saved by the Bell and Showgirls, wants to give girls a comfortable place to open up. She conveys to the girls the importance of respecting themselves, demanding respect from others, of being strong, sympathetic, unafraid to show emotion, to know that much of what they worry about is shared by others. They are not alone. One main message Wednesday: "Never settle." 

Some female students also attended. The assembly was held inside North's Performing Arts Center.

Wednesday's Q&A discussion was not open to news media to protect the privacy of the participants. Berkley pointed it out more than halfway through the discussion.

Berkley, a native of Farmington Hills, shared her story of being a tall, awkward and shy girl and of going through phases where she tried to make herself what someone else wanted her to be before coming through as a woman happy to wear four-inch heels and married to a man who respects and honors her. Her boots and her relationship got big cheers and "aaawwww"s from the crowd.

The actress turned author has learned a lot about what teens and tweens feel and think about and long to understand. She has put their questions and answers in their own words into book creatively designed to look like scraps of paper pasted to the pages. The information was culled from focus groups between Berkley and teens around the country two years ago. 

What she heard during a focus group spent with members of Grosse Pointe North's WILLOW - Women in Leadership Leading Our World, went in to the book.

"I got to choose 10 schools in the country. I chose this group because I had such a special time here," she told the audience at the start of the discussion. 

WILLOW, which offers speakers to share advice with the girls about stress management, job interviewing, navigating relationships and more, has about 70 members and 45-50 regular attendees. A message like Berkley's is ideal for the group, says Pat Gast, a WILLOW adviser. After the presentation each girl received a copy of the book and a bookmark.

The presentation had the girls write anonymous questions on paper and drop them in bags—provided by tour sponsor Macy's—for Berkley to draw and read to the crowd.  Some girls asked questions directly from their seats.

Passing around microphones, girls in the audience shared their own advice and thoughts as did Berkley who asked meaningful questions before sharing her own opinion. Many of the girls cheered one another and encouraged each other to be good to themselves. 

Everyone who spoke showed bravery, something Berkley encourages.

When introducing Berkley before the start of the presentation, Principal Tim Bearden, said it was "a first to have all of our young ladies in the same place together. It's awesome. You look beautiful."