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Leap into Leadership
Earlier this year, Girl Scouts Heart of the Hudson hosted a teen conference, Leap into Leadership at Mercy College. Close to 100 girls attended. The conference was co-planned and led by the young women who attended the National Convention in October 2014 in Salt Lake City, Utah.
We want to share a few quotes from these young women. After reading their reflections on the event, we hope you will see that the future of Girl Scouts is in good hands!
"We are the girls who represented Girl Scouts Heart of the Hudson this past October at National Convention in Salt Lake City Utah. As part of this experience, we took part in the Girls Scout Leadership Institute, or GSLI. The GSLI was a four day experience which included a series of programs and workshops based on troubling problems faced today. The topics included were Basic Needs, Education, Gender Equality, Healthy Relationships, Inclusion and Diversity, Self-Image / Body Confidence, and Teen Violence. We each chose one of these topics to explore over the 4 day conference. Hearing inspiring stories, learning more about these important issues, and having a chance to brainstorm what steps we can individually make to help remedy these issues, encouraged us, and other members of the conference, to become the advocates for change we were destined to be."
"After having this experience, we felt it was crucially important to share what we had learned in Utah with our sister Girl Scouts here in the Hudson Valley who didn't have the chance to attend National Convention and the GSLI. For the last 10 months, we've been working with council staff and volunteers to put together this event for you - so you too can understand how these very important issues affect different people in a variety of ways, and you too can begin to understand your incredible leadership potential. We hope that today will be a great source of discussion and ideas"
"Regardless of the issue you're taking a stand against, seeing yourself as a leader is an important first step. In today's society some of the most powerful leaders are Girl Scouts. As Girl Scouts, we all have one of the greatest advantages when applying for roles of leadership. We all are able to attend these conferences to learn to lead and use our opportunities to catapult us forward in our lives"
"Leaders are not defined as good leaders solely on the impact of their message, but by the fact that they have even attempted to change and question an issue that affects them."
"When you leave here today, we hope you will be inspired to save the world. Your mantra, going forward, should be "I will lead" not "I can lead". "I will" signifies the intent and promises that you are positive and will be definite in your word. If you say it enough, you will convince everyone around you, and also yourself."
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