Girls are learning the keys to confidence and success through a Newburgh school program.

Horizons-on-the-Hudson Elementary School hosts the "Building African-American Success, Talent, Achievement, and Respect" program, nicknamed B.A. Star. The group meets a few days a week and teaches minority girls about their heritage, social and emotional skills, and how to find their inner voices.

B.A. Star is in its third year, and mentor Sabrina Dolfinger says the program encourages the students to have role models and feel comfortable with who they are.

"We wanted to support them and we know that the data shows that they respond more to people who can relate to them more. So we had people who are from their communities. Originally, I'm from Newburgh, so we got this group together," Dolfinger said.

B.A. Star is for girls in third through fifth grades, but mentors say they hope to expand the program to the Newburgh school district's middle and high schools.