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03/08/2017 06:30 AMConfidence isn’t always the easiest thing to come by, especially if you are a young girl, but an upcoming event is giving middle school girls the chance to focus on empowerment and self-confidence in an all-female setting. For the fourth year, the Girls Leadership Conference returns to Guilford on Saturday, March 25.
The conference, sponsored by Shoreline Girls United (SGU), Guilford Developmental Assets for Youth (DAY), Guilford Youth & Family Services (GYFS), and MADE in Madison, focuses on youth leadership, positive peer influence, and tackling issues facing young girls today.
Now in its fourth year, conference coordinator Jill Paglino of SGU said for the first time the conference is open to 5th graders. Throughout the day, 5th and 6th grade students will have the chance to sit in on different workshops focusing on everything from science to popularity, as will 7th and 8th grade students.
“The themes are the same, but the specific topics may change,” Paglino said of the workshop subjects year-over-year. “We try to be current based on what girls are talking about and dealing with right now. Because we are girl-run, we let the girls decide the topics that they are going to cover.”
High school students from Guilford, Madison, North Branford, Clinton, and a college student will run programs as “workshop leaders” throughout the conference. Guilford High School (GHS) freshman Ella Stanley, who previously attended the conference as a middle school student, is a first-time leader this year. Along with other students, Stanley is leading a workshop focused on breaking down the stigma surrounding women in the sciences.
“I myself like math and science a lot and I know it is a big thing that girls think it is cool to seem not really advanced in that area,” she said. “They like to seem pretty or they like to seem popular and they think friends might see them as nerdy if they do try in school and we want to take away that stereotype.”
Other workshops will focus on media representation, being kind online, and popularity. Seventh- and 8th- grade students will have the chance to attend a workshop focused on how women are—or aren’t—portrayed in the media.
The idea is not just to learn about what issues might exist in these areas, but talk about ways to fix them. Throughout the day there will be other activities for the girls including a class with a representative from Shift Cycling and a performance by an all-girl group from School of Rock.
The conference will also include a seminar for parents titled “Solve Your Family’s Phone Struggles.” With younger and younger children getting cell phones, Paglino said this event gives parents a chance to discuss that challenge.
“This is the age where parents start to debate whether the kids get a cell phone or not or they might be getting their first phone and a lot of people have a struggle about what are the rules going to be, etc.,” she said. “This would be a place for parents to explore that with other parents.”
GYFS Program Director Karolin Regan said one of the best things about the conference, now with a couple of years under its belt, is seeing girls who attended as middle school students return to take the reins as leaders.
“I think we have seen the girls grow in running all or most of the conference including the opening remarks and getting the girls to go from one workshop to the next and I think it will be exciting this year to see that,” she said.
Paglino agreed and said this conference is a good way for young girls to see other girls from their community grow up to be leaders. Stanley said, having attended the conference, she wanted to come back as a leader.
“When I went I really enjoyed it a lot and I thought it was very cool to see all of these girls running it,” she said. “It is not just them taking what someone else did and then showing other kids, it is them thinking it all through so it was something that I wanted to do to give back what I got from the conference.”
The Girls Leadership Conference is Saturday, March 25 from 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at the Guilford Community Center, 32 Church Street. To register for the conference, call Guilford Youth & Family Services at 203-453-8047. The registration fee is $20.