Leading Women Mass is proud to sponsor Leadership Academy team at Girls Incorporated of Worcester.
The Girls Inc. of Worcester Leadership Academy recognizes the amazing leadership potential in young women today. By pairing girls in grades 10-12 with professional women from our community as mentors, this program encourages and inspires girls to challenge themselves and give them amazing opportunities to learn and grow.
Thanks to our "dream-team" of volunteer women leaders from Bank of America, EMC Corp, Fallon Community Health Plan, Junior League of Worcester, Leading Women Mass, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), Staples Inc, TJX Companies, and Verizon, we are mentoring 20 high school girls from North High and Abbey Kelley Foster.
Program Highlights:
Session 1 Getting out of your Comfort Zone
True to theme, Leading Women Mass team members "climbed new heights" at Central MA Rock Climbing Gym but most of all enjoyed getting to know each other. We amazed ourselves at how high we climbed and discovered we had some talented "spider-girls", "spider-women", AND cheerleaders on the team!
Session 2 Leadership
Leading Women Mass facilitators Colleen Dowd of PwC and Ellen Cummings of Verizon led the girls in activities to discover their leadership styles. Which styles do you think were most popular - Thinker, Communicator, Decision Maker, or Doer? The facilitators couldn't help but wonder how the results may have differed had it been with a group of high school boys.
Session 3 Group Work, Conflict Resolution, and Appropriate Assertiveness
Although Leading Women Mass team facilitators Victoria Waterman of Leading Women Mass and Deb Gallagher of EMC Corp led the girls through the program, the real stars were the girls who volunteered to role play a workplace dilemma. The girls brilliantly acted out their roles as submissive, aggressive, assertive employees and of course the office manager. Watch out world - make room for these strong, smart, and bold high school girls coming your way soon!
Session 4 Time Management & Goal Setting
Leading Women Mass team facilitators Cynthia Wilkinson of Staples Inc and Fran Rogers of TJ Maxx delivered an interactive session with the girls to learn critical lessons on how to determine urgency, importance, and setting priorities of tasks and goals. Who knew that "SMART Goals" can also be FUN!!!
Session 5 College Access & Readiness
Mary Cartier of Bank of America and Cathy McCarthy of the Junior League of Worcester started the session by having the girls fill in the blanks "To me, college means.....". With the help of the facilitators, mentors and guest speakers from the Colleges of Worcester Consortium, all the sentences ended with something like ....."as long as I am willing to seek, I will find a perfect fit for me to continue my education - and may even be surprised by the options I never thought were possible."
Session 6 Field Trip to Bay Path College
Leadership Academy continued learning about college opportunities with a visit to Bay Path College in Longmeadow, MA. The girls were prepared with questions, the most popular being for the student tour guides - "Why did you choose an all-girls college?" The typical answer was "better focus and fewer distractions". Our tour guides definitely emphasized that boys were not a rare thing to see on campus and were very much welcome but when it came to academics, it was all about the girls and how they learn best. The girls really enjoyed learning about campus life, seeing the dorms, hearing about all the majors offered, and, of course, the cafeteria. One group even had the pleasure to bump into the prsident of the college, Dr. Carol A. Leary, who took a few minutes to talk to them about her experience as the first person in her family to attend college. She encouraged all of the girls to challenge themsleves their whole lives. The girls really enjoyed it and are considering college options that they may not have considered before. Thanks for a great trip, Bay Path College!
Session 7 Stress Reduction
Thanks to Wendy O'Leary who led an amazing yoga class in Girls Inc Leadership Academy to demonstrate simple and practical ways to reduce stress. The girls also learned tips to recognize the warning signs of anxiety and stress and practical ways to be calm - no matter if you're in school, work, or anywhere. Needless to say, the leading Women mentors really enjoyed this session too. "Namaste" to Wendy.
Session 8 Budgeting - How to Get the Most From Your Money
Once again, the mentors of Leadership Academy at Girls Inc of Worcester took a "perceived unexciting topic" and turned it into FUN! Led by Kim Shultz and Luanne Remillard of the Junior League of Worcester, girls learned the fundamentals of creating a budget. They felt empowered by having the tools and knowledge to meet financial goals and become independent women. SO IMPORTANT!
Session 9 Dress for Success
How could a visit to Dress for Success be anything but fun! Well in fact, it was not only fun but very educational too. Kaly Sullivan, boutique manager of DFS Worcester gave the girls lots of tips and tricks that came in handy for showtime. Each team of girls was given a mannequin to dress in an ideal interview suit. Although the Leadership Academy mentors provided some guidance, these future leaders used the tips they just learned plus their own personal style to project a great impression on any prospective employer!
Session 10 Dress to Impress Shopping Trip!
Girls and mentors took the skills they learned at the last "Dress for Success" session and went shopping for interview-appropriate clothes. Each girls received a gift card and made purchases within the spending limit. The mentors were inspired how the girls demonstrated team skills (postive feedback to each other) and sense of pride and confidence from making smart choices within their budgets. A very memorable session indeed.
Session 11 Effective Communication, Public Speaking and Presentation Skills
The Staples women, Lisa Prior-Stokes and Cynthia Wilkinson, led a fun session focusing on communication and public speaking. With the confidence gained from the skills they just learned, the girls took turns reading aloud a quote from a famous woman leader and shared a personal connection to the group. The best part of the day - the girls revealed how surprised they were to enjoy exploring quotes that touched their hearts AND speaking about it.
Session 12 Keynote Conference
Serving as a culmination and educational send-off for the girls was a memorable keynote conference. Thanks to Hanover Insurance for hosting the keynote conference as well as Future Leader Program Volunteers. More highlights included a college readiness program by Dynamy as well as a "Brand Me" activity led by Leading Women MASS mentors. The session ended on a high note with the announcement of the two $500 scholarship recipients. All the girls promised they would "pay it forward" with volunteer service and they committed to completing higher education. A bittersweet farewell to all our new friends with the promise to "Lead On!"
For more information and to see great photos, go to the Girls Inc. of Worcester Facebook page.
"Today's Girls Are Tomorrow's Leading Women", Victoria Waterman, Board President of Girls Inc. of Worcester and President of Leading Women Mass