Girls Lead Conference to Take Place at West Chester University’s Gender Studies Department
The Women’s Resource Center of the Delaware Valley (WRC) is having this year’s annual Girls Lead Conference on Friday, March 1st, 2019, at West Chester University’s Sykes Student Union building, hosted by their Gender Studies Department from 9:30 am to 12:45 pm.
The purpose of the Girls Lead Conference is to celebrate the hard work the girls have done over 12 sessions, including work on a Leadership Project, which targets a need in the community the girls want to help with, such as homelessness or mental illness. There are breakout groups with discussions on social media and body image as well, lunch provided by New Street Catering, and presentations on the leadership projects.
Girls Lead works with middle school and high school girls, focusing on enhancing skills in Communication, Decision-making, Conflict Resolution, Problem Solving, and Advocacy. These core skills have been found in research to serve as protective factors against many challenges facing adolescent girls. Through group activities and project implementation, Girls Lead participants practice and strengthen these essential life skills. Participants are nominated by their guidance counselors as girls with untapped leadership potential who are at risk of slipping through the cracks. The schools involved in this year’s conference are Phoenixville Area Middle School, Peirce Middle School, Stetson Middle School, Radnor Middle School, Darby Township School, Widener Partnership Charter School, Stewart Middle School, and Tinicum Middle School.
About 110 girls will be in attendance, with 17 West Chester University volunteers, and 28 adult facilitators.
“When you hear a 7th grade girl say, ‘You changed my life,‘ you know the program works! More than 90% of Girls Lead participants report an increase in confidence in the key skills as well as improved communication with parents,” Cheryl Brubaker, WRC’s Executive Director said.
For more information, you can reach Megan Lydon, the Development Coordinator of the WRC, at megan@womensrc.org.