By: Tahreem Shah
April 27th, 2021 was a day of inspiration, empowerment and community building hosted by the members of the Girls’ Leadership Program (GLP) at Sandalwood Heights. The GLP is a program that strives to build relationships and creates positive change in our school community while empowering girls to be leaders. A major focus of our work in the program is connecting with our grade 7 and 8 feeder school girls. We lead by example and use our own knowledge and experience to try and help make the transition to high school a little less intimidating. Our virtual Girls’ Leadership Conference brought the school community together to make this possible.
After four months of planning and preparation, the members of the GLP, working with community partners, successfully executed our first online conference. Our goals were to meet the need for connectedness and a sense of community with Sandalwood’s grade 9 girls and intermediate girls at elementary schools in our superintendency. GLP strives to inspire girls by sharing personal stories of hard work, perseverance, and achievement; and to empower girls by providing them with resources and helping them develop skills for success. Our Director of Education, Ms. Colleen Russell-Rawlins, our Principal, Ms. Stiglic, and 16 diverse representatives from various fields helped us to achieve these goals by sharing inspiring messages and leading workshops throughout the day.
Our 12 workshops were all requested by students. Each workshop had its own designated team, including GLP members, a presenter, a moderator and a producer, all dedicated solely to making it a memorable experience for our intermediate girls. The first set of workshops included High School 101, presented by GLP members. This workshop was an introduction to high school which included tips on what to expect and strategies for success. The other workshops in this session, included BeYOUtiful: How to develop self-esteem and self-confidence presented by representatives from the Associated Youth Services of Peel; Self Care: Strategies for supporting my mental wellness presented by a representative from Canadian Mental Health Association; and Healthy ties and Positive Vibes: Foundations for healthy relationships presented by a representative from EveryMind. These all focused on supporting mental and physical wellbeing and how important it is to take care of ourselves.
The second set of workshops addressed problems and struggles females face in the real world, like financial struggles, racism, and discrimination. The Black Girl Experience was a discussion of the challenges faced by Black girls and strategies to overcome them led by a representative from the Visions of Science Network for Learning. Our Women In Male-dominated Careers workshop led by representatives from STEM and Aviation, who talked about dealing with the challenges of being women in fields dominated by men. Show Me the Money was a lesson in financial responsibility delivered by representatives from Junior Achievers Canada. These workshops empowered girls by teaching important skills and showing them that despite their race, gender, ethnicity or where they are from, they are a force to be reckoned with and they can achieve success in whichever field they choose.
We ended the day with a bang with our Becoming Your Own Boss, Like a Beauty Guru and final Women in male-dominated Careers and High School 101. These were led by representatives from the media, beauty industry, law enforcement, aviation, and sports management. In these workshops, our lovely guest presenters shared the message that your success is in your hands, you are in charge of your life and it’s up to you, whatever you do, to make everything count.
Our Girls’ Leadership Conference 2021 was a huge success, with over 500 attendees including girls in grades 7-9 from 14 different schools. Students, staff, and guest presenters all agree that the conference was an amazing experience and they look forward to the next conference.
Reviews
“The experience of collaborating with GLP members and staff when planning for the GLP conference has been a great learning experience for me personally! This is because I was able to listen to other people’s opinions ” - GLP Executive
“It was a great workshop where I truly took away experiences that I know I will remember in the future.”-GLP Executive
“It was all worth it, being able to make an impact on young girls, and the way they see high school itself” - GLP Executive
“I’m glad I was able to participate in the conference and hold such a big role. The experience I gained from an event like this is unmatched. I hope we can hold another conference next year.”-GLP Executive
“It honestly was a life changing experience for me. I never thought I’d enjoy connecting with the feeder school girls and I never thought I would be the one learning from the different workshops we had. I’m forever grateful to be a part of this experience.”- GLP Member
“I really got inspired by everyone equally today, it was really nice having someone talk about mental health because I have had some stress and anxiety in the past”.
“The workshop that inspired me the most was "Women in Male-dominated careers". It was truly amazing to hear all the success that the ladies were able to accomplish. It really motivated me to become a successful woman as well and despite a career being prominently male, it is still 100% possible for women to dominate the field/job just as well.”
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