FULLERTON

In a new program designed to encourage girls to set high goals for themselves, 40 fifth- and sixth-grade girls at Orangethorpe Elementary School are meeting once a month to hear from female role models.

The program, called Leading Ladies, brings in speakers from inside and outside the community to talk to the students over a brown-bag lunch. Guests so far have included recording artist Stacy St. James and the school district’s coordinator of fine arts, Lauralyn Eschner.

Speakers to come include a pilot, a police officer, a firefighter and Fullerton Mayor Jan M. Flory.

Principal Pat Backus brought the idea back from a trip this year to schools in Colorado and Texas, which he visited as a reviewer for the national Blue Ribbon competition.