North Penn Girls Saved by Elizabeth Berkley

Elizabeth Berkley’s popularity has begun to span generations.

Best known as Jessie Spano on Saved By the Bell—where her popular culture meme, “I’m so excited, I’m so excited, I’m so … scared,” originated—Berkley has made a name for herself in movies such as Showgirls and in other TV shows, such as CSI: Miami.

For the past five years, Berkley has taken up another role—one of a big sister to many young girls across the nation.

Berkley appeared at North Penn High School Tuesday for two girls’ self-esteem workshops. The workshops were closed to all males of the school, both students and teachers.

“I’ve worked with 40,000 girls now,” said Berkley during an interview at North Penn following her 90-minute workshop, which more than 100 girls attended after school.

“I facilitate my self-esteem program, and I’ve done it for the last five years as a volunteer in schools,” she said.

Berkley’s nonprofit organization, Ask Elizabeth, started as a grassroots effort in New York with two-hour interactive self-esteem workshops.

Seven years ago, with Saved By the Bell in syndication, Berkley began being approached by younger generations of girls.

“They were coming up to me, and I had this big sister vibe,” she said. “We started talking. At first, it was a small group of girls, and then more came. We began holding a group dialogue.”

A friend of Berkley’s told her she should write a column for Seventeen magazine, but Berkley didn’t feel that was the route she wanted to take.

She turned to a girlfriend that runs an organization in New York that provides arts education for 40 inner-city schools.

At first, Berkley was asked to teach at the organization.

“I was not interested in teaching,” she said.

Then, the self-esteem sessions was born.

“There was this desire I had,” she said. “It was such a success.”

Word of mouth spread about Berkley’s workshops, and there were requests for her to share them at schools across the nation.

Berkley has compiled her experiences and the questions asked by all these girls into a book called Ask Elizabeth, available now by Penguin Publishers.

Each girl at North Penn High will be given a free copy of Berkley's book, as well as a $10 gift card.

“I wanted to bring the work that the book was all about back to the girls themselves,” she said.

Berkley chose 10 high schools across the U.S. for her book tour. North Penn was one of those schools.

In the sessions, Berkley doesn’t focus on her career. She wants to bring her experiences—and most importantly the experiences of the girls she sees—and make them the heart of the sessions.

The question-and-answer part of the sessions are just one piece. There is also a group dialogue that Berkley facilitates, thereby providing an open discussion among those gathered for the workshop.

“I give them a platform to help one another,” she said. “We weave our own stories.”

Her book features 15 most-asked questions compiled during the past five years.

From each school she visits, Berkley collects most of the workshop participants' questions and comments in plastic bags. Many are written on torn notebook pages, and others are typed out on paper.

She likes to refer to them as “scrapbooks.”

Berkley then takes all these scrapbook thoughts and categorizes them.

“No matter where I go, there is a theme asked over and over,” she said. “I boil them down to 15 most-asked questions.”

Her book does feature some hard-hitting stories. Yet, Berkley cautioned she isn’t an expert, but she does have experts that contributed to the book.

“The role I take in person is a big-sister voice,” she said.

Berkley sees success with her program.

“The girls are so empowered, and they use their own voices and life experiences,” she said. “The space I provide is safe and empowering.”

She said the girls leave the workshops with tangible tools at their disposal. It’s almost a “pay-it-forward” ethos.

“It’s not just talking about it; it is what do you do about it,” she said. “No one’s alone. The girls offer their own advice. It’s a sisterhood.”

Berkley's appearance at North Penn was made possible, in part, by Montgomery County District Attorney Risa Ferman.

"Risa brought it to our attention and recommended it to us at the DUI re-enactment. We turned it around and made it work out," said North Penn High School assistant principal Doug Povalaitis.

He said the auditorium for the morning session was packed. The after-school session in the audion had about 100 students.

"It's great that these girls can talk about issues without intimidation," Povalaitis said.

Berkley is appearing at the Barnes & Noble at Rittenhouse Square for a book signing at 6 p.m.

Check out her book and learn more about her program at www.ask-elizabeth.com.