By: Ava Osorio
On October 13th, 2023, girls from Port Chester High School were invited to attend The International Day of the Girl Summit in Manhattanville College. Day of the Girls is an international observance day declared by the United Nations, that has been a yearly occurrence since 2012. It has been a global movement to recognize the importance of girls, their rights, and their challenges. The goal of this summit was to amplify girls’ voices and to teach them leadership skills.
Port Chester students were accompanied by Superintendent Dr.Henriquez, Guidance Counselor Mrs.Clay-Williams, Dr. Rich-Kennedy, Ms.Paulino, and Ms. Funes to the event. Students arrived at 8:30 and were given the choice to have breakfast that consisted of croissants, cookies, and muffins. While we were eating, a welcome video was played and some opening remarks were made by prestigious individuals Dr.DaMia-Harris Madden the Executive Director of the Westchester County Youth Bureau, Honorable George Latimer the County Executive of Westchester County, Honorable Kenneth W. Jenkins the Deputy County Executive of Westchester County, and lastly Frank Sanchez the President of Manhattanville College. Following this an amazing band from the White Plains High School Songwriters Club played an assortment of music, to set the mood for the day. Before we broke off into panels, and workshops we had two Westchester County Youth Poet Laureates recite their riveting poems. Alexis Murphy´s poem shows how girlhood is vast, complex, and all-encompassing. On the other hand, Harmony Hapwood showed how although girlhood is from being perfect, it is even farther from being inadequate.
All of this perfectly fits IDG´s Strive to Thrive: Unlocking Your True Potential theme. Attendees were allowed to pick what workshops they would like to attend later on in the day. The workshops were split into different categories consisting of mental health, financial literacy, civic engagement, healthy relationships, and STEAM (science, technology, entrepreneurship, art, music, and math). The workshop I personally attended was Vote18 which stressed the importance of voting and allowed those over 16 to pre-register to vote. I also attended the Financial Wellness workshop, which introduced ideas like budgeting, savings, and different types of income to girls. Some other workshops that were available were HOW “IRL” is it? Leadership Mask Making, Girls4Tech, Managing Anxiety, and The Vision Box. All of these workshops stressed the importance of being independent and being able to strive when becoming a woman.
This was the first time Port Chester High School students attended the summit. Dr.Henriquez (Superintendent of Port Chester Schools) felt that it was important to expose Port Chester female students to various topics. She wanted them to experience something that would hopefully impact them for the rest of their lives. As a result, PCHS plans to make this a recurring event for years to come.