In the most recent survey, for example, 71 percent of girls of middle school or high school age said they were satisfied with life as a whole.

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It had been a hard year, with our girls transitioning to middle school.

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The pictures had been taken the previous year, when the girls had entered middle school, the standard one-inch black-and-white photos for school registration.

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This was a group of middle school girls, so I thought it might be difficult to engage them in conversation.

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The night ended with both men yelling at each other "like middle-school girls" in the driveway, Andy recalls.

CNN: November 19, 2012 -- Updated 1840 GMT (0240 HKT)

Designed to spark the interest of middle and high-school girls in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) subjects, the Women in STEM Speakers Bureau was launched by the White House Council on Women and Girls and Office of Science and Technology Policy in September of last year.

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