THE CROWD:

In a time when society laments the severe decline in demonstrable individual responsibility, a group of young ladies associated with the National Charity League offer considerable hope for a better future.

They are privileged girls. They come from families of means. Doors are open to them. In years, or rather decades past, the charitable training bestowed upon a young lady of formidable background was more of a course of finishing or preparing the woman for marriage to a young man of similar means and social background.

While the unwritten rules of social attraction still exist, today the charitable training of young ladies through debutante programs such as the Ticktockers of the National Charity League have a very different focus.

Today, the young lady must be trained for life, not just marriage. She must compete in a world marketplace, reach for her own goals, strive for her own recognition apart from her family, her husband and even her friends.

The rules of life have been challenged; precepts of the past no longer fit so comfortably. Outsiders may view the debutante process as archaic; insiders know that it is not the case.

The new order borrows from the golden era of family connection and elegant celebration, meeting the challenge of providing young women with leadership skills and fostering goals of individual excellence combined with a strong infusion of connection to community.

To this end, The National Charity League program begins in the seventh grade and runs through high school graduation, offering a comprehensive immersion in life studies. In the seventh grade, the girls are given team-building ethics, they are taught to avoid peer pressure, even given lessons on how to “survive junior high school.”

By the ninth grade, time management skills are introduced, along with stress management, self defense, nutrition, drug awareness, an introduction to public service, volunteering to assist the less fortunate and beginning to prepare for college.

As the girls graduate high school, they are offered career guidance, financial management training, college campus strategies for self-protection and safety, and even counseling on leaving home to start a new phase of life.

Along this important road, Ticktockers are also immersed in serving the community through participation in a very long list of community and charitable endeavors sponsored by National Charity League.

The list is long. A few of the mainstream organizations assisted include the American Cancer Society, Children’s Hospital of Orange County, the Fairview Developmental Center, Hoag Hospital Candy Stripers, the Orange Coast Interfaith Shelter, the Pediatric Cancer Research Foundation and the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation.

The National Charity League also supports an array of lesser known causes on the local level.

Finally — and perhaps most important — is the relationship-building between mothers and daughters as well as families, friends and community. It imparts the life lessons of communication, cooperation and humanitarian pursuit that will serve each girl throughout her life, as she contributes to a society of decency.

Recently, the 2006 National Charity League debs gathered for their Rainbow Luncheon, held at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Huntington Beach.

Twenty-eight young ladies, their mothers, grandmothers, aunts, teachers and friends enjoyed lunch and a fashion show benefiting, in addition to the aforementioned charities , the Costa Mesa Senior Citizens’ Home, Human Options’ Second Step (a program for battered women and their children), Orangewood Children’s Home and more.

Newport’s Sandy Weiner, president of league, graced the luncheon that was called “The Time of Your Life.”

Chaired by Betsy Van’t Hof and a hardworking committee, the affair represented the culmination of 10,000 hours of community service by the 28 girls and their mothers. Beyond the volunteer service, the achievement statistics of these young ladies is quite impressive.

Here’s an overview: All 28 will be off to college this month. Six will attend USC; four, UC Berkeley; five will be awarded major scholarships in academics and athletics. Twenty-three of the young girls have been on their high school honor roll for four years, fifteen are National Honor Society members, another 15 Merit Scholars, and 20 are California Scholarship Federation recipients. The list goes on.

In the end, it’s not the honors that matter as much as the character-building and relationship-bonding. Ann Ramser, Newport NCL mom and volunteer, said it best: “NCL changes lives — for young girls, for their mothers, for the community.”

The 28 graduating Ticktockers are Sophia Hillgran, Nicole Newquist, Allyson Page, Slenna Palmer, Alexine Rodenhuis, Katyn Shala, Holly Stanton, Brittanny Shirgass, Caroline Wilkinson, Carly Dobson, Danica Kalmbach, Elizabeth Layton, Kally Lucas, Shannon Maguin, Katie McKithrick, Katarina Milosavljevic, Maribel Arila, Karly Bennett, Jacqui Bradburne, Ashley Carnahan, Amanda Carver, Brooke Chandler, Maclay Coldren, Kelly Curtis, Christine Burke, and Catherine Dailey.