Inside the alternative summer camp that transforms teens into bona fide rock stars

The show starts with a rallying cry: “Girls to the front!”

At their cue, the band kicks off, the crowd goes wild, and the rest is herstory. No, it's not a scene straight out of Taylor Swift's Eras Tour — it's a summer camp, and the campers are here to rock.

Each summer, campers aged 8 to 17 flock to Girls Rock St. Pete (GRSP) for a crash course in confidence, feminism, and of course, rock 'n' roll.

From sold-out shows to their own rockumentary, the St. Petersburg, Florida based non-profit is spreading their music and message across the Tampa Bay Area and beyond.

According to Rachael Sibilia, the founder of Girls Rock St. Pete, and Jesse Miller, executive director, the camp seeks to empower “women, girls, and gender-expansive participants” through the power of artistic expression.

In the years since Sibilia created GRSP, the organization has become a crucial part of their coastal community.

“It's working more than we ever dreamed that it would,” Miller says. “What keeps us going is that the more we do it, the more we realize that it's needed.”

A summer camp unlike any other

To the uninitiated, Girls Rock’s premise is somewhat daunting: participants form bands, learn to play a new instrument, write an original song, and perform in front of a thousand-person audience, all by the end of the weeklong camp.

“For me, rock music is an avenue to really dig deeper into yourself, to see yourself in a different way and to see your talents and your contributions differently,” Miller says.

Despite the premise, Miller and Sibilia aren't just trying to create the next Riot Grrrl group.

“I think that there’s a bit of a misnomer with even our title — it isn’t just rock and roll. It isn’t just for girls,” Miller says.

The program's overall goal, according to Siblia, is to “amplify women's and non-binary folk's voices.”

At Girl Rock, those amps are literal — guitars, drums and mics included.

Many campers have never played an instrument before coming to Girls Rock.

“Every single moment of [camp] is curated specifically to push people out of their comfort zone,” Sibilia says.

During what the camp calls “Power Week,” campers can also participate in a variety of activities, from workshops about the queer and Black history of rock n' roll, to “freakaerobics” dance parties.

According to Miller and Sibilia, the programs are the “Kryptonite of perfectionism” and aim to create an environment where girls can feel free to be themselves.

“We are taking up space, we are doing things out of our comfort zone and it is loud and unapologetic,” Miller says.

Their approach has worked: Over the years, Miller and Sibilia have watched young campers turn into confident, community-minded adults.

“We get the opportunity to see kids that we knew going into middle school, and now they're full-on adults with confidence, taking up space,” Sibilia says.

Sibilia recalls the journey of a camper, Kaylee, from one of the first Girls Rock sessions. At the start of camp, she was “too cool for school,” as Sibilia puts it. But by the end of her first Power Week, Kaylee was hooked.

Now eighteen, Kaylee still plays in the Girls Rock showcase band, Anarkitty, and is preparing to come back to Girls Rock as a counselor.

“Now, Kaylee's out there doing gigs, talking about Girls Rock camp and teaching other girls and women about the importance of supporting each other in our community,” Miller says.

“This is the camp that I needed when I was a kid”

Amid the success of Girls Rock St. Pete, Sibilia and Miller found that adults also felt deeply connected to the program.

“All of our volunteers have said, 'This is the camp that I needed when I was a kid,'” Miller recalls.

As a result of that feedback, Miller and Sibilia held their first-ever Ladies Rock camp over a weekend in February 2023.

Similar to Girls Rock campers, Ladies Rock participants formed bands and learned new instruments over a short period of time — in this case, only 72 hours.

While some aspects of the program were adjusted for an adult audience, the camp's overall ethos remains the same. Beyond the thrill of rocking out onstage to a crowd, Ladies Camp emphasizes emotional growth, too.

“You’re rewiring your brain on how to give yourself grace, how to make mistakes, how to build that resilience, and come out more confident on the other end,” Miller says. “That helps you in every capacity, whether it's being a mom or in business.”

During camp, participants worked on unlearning ingrained societal habits, such as apologizing unnecessarily.

Every time a woman over-apologizes, the other campers are encouraged to place a sticker on them and shout, “You rock!”

“It's just to acknowledge how frequently women apologize for just simply taking up space,” Miller explains.

Sibilia and Miller initially worried that most women wouldn't be able to make time for the camp, but Ladies Camp was met with overwhelming enthusiasm. So much enthusiasm in fact, that there's hopes of scheduling another Ladies Camp session later this year.

“It's so magical,” Miller says. “Women deserve this. They deserve to take this time to do nothing but explore themselves.”

Spreading the magic in St. Pete's

In the eight years since Sibilia founded Girls Rock St. Pete, the camp has become well-known in the St. Petersburg music scene, and hundreds of people attend the showcase performance at the end of each Power Week.

“There's not really any place that we go where people haven't heard of us,” Miller says.

For many young people in the area, Girls Rock is a refuge. Several campers have told Miller and Sibilia that the thought of Girls Rock keeps them going through the school year.

Parents, too, have marveled at the impact of Girls Rock on their children.

“We have dads that will come up and just sob to us about how powerful it was for their kid to be involved in this program — their kid that was so shy that they couldn't even introduce themselves or order their own meals at a restaurant,” Miller says. “Then, they're seeing that kid up on stage, full of confidence, just shredding, screaming and taking up space in front of an audience that's just on fire for them. As a parent, to see your kid have that kind of transformation is just so powerful.”

Beyond a confidence boost, Girls Rock is a lifeline for struggling youth.

“We’ve had campers’ parents confide in us that they think that Girls Rock camp literally saved their kid’s life,” Miller says. “A lot of kids deal with a lot of bullying behavior, and it’s really difficult to figure out how to navigate all that as a kid — especially if you’re also coming out or gender transitioning.”

Among the multitude of volunteers at Girls Rock — Miller says they have a one-to-one ratio of volunteers to campers — are therapists and other adults equipped to advise on tough teenage issues.

Girls Rock works with other community organizations to ensure that they create the “safest and bravest” space possible, according to Sibilia.

In Florida, this support is especially crucial in light of restrictive legislation such as Gov. Ron Desantis' “Don’t Say Gay” law and bans on gender-affirming care.

Since Girls Rock St. Pete isn't affiliated with the school system, the organization is exempt from some of these restrictions.

Though Girls Rock has faced some outside backlash, their participants are happy campers.

“Kids just see other kids as kids,” Miller says. “Because we create this really loving and supportive environment, it's kind of the best place to learn about diversity.”

Beyond their summer Power Week, Girls Rock St. Pete hosts youth open mics, and Miller shares that they plan to expand to after-school programs.

“We're just creating the space," Miller says. “The campers, they bring the magic.”

This article was originally published on TODAY.com