Conference aimed to empower girls
The first "Young Women's Empowerment Conference" for middle-school girls is scheduled at Aiken Technical College Saturday.
About 120 young women throughout Aiken County are expected to participate in breakout sessions and other activities. The guest speaker will be Courtney Turner, Miss South Carolina.
The event will be held at the ATC gym from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Peggy Ford, the Children's Place director and a committee member for the project, encouraged parents to bring their daughters starting around 9 a.m.
There are still a few openings available for any middle-school girls in the county. For more information on the conference and on registration, call Children's Place at 641-4144.
The event is sponsored through the Aiken County Community Partnership and includes committees of adult women and middle- and high-school girls.
The breakout sessions include such topics as social situations, inner beauty, knowing one's strengths and knowing the future. The moderators will be Carla Cloud, the Aiken Downtown Development Association director; Barbara Smoak, Savannah River Nuclear Solutions public relations manager; Sondra Thomas of Aiken Youth Empowerment; Dr. Deidre Martin of USC Aiken and Karen Fowler of Aiken Technical College.
Other adults on the committee include Annie Berge, Gail Diggs, Kelly Findley, Natalie Fox, Susan Meehan, Liz Morris, Joanne Saundders, Liz Stewart, Nola Grant and Sharon Rodgers.
The students that have worked on the conference include Deborah Jackosn, Andi Brown, Brittany Wacker, Pamela Roberson, Taylor Mabry, Lauren Grimm, Torah Ligons, Jamie Moore and Modesty El.
"We hope the participants at the conference come away with a sense that they can grab their future - that it's theirs to take," Ford said. "The girls working on this also have learned a lot about being good friends."
Among the conference activities will be a Zumba workout. The event will close with an old Native American ritual in which butterflies "will be released with all (the girls') wishes and dreams," Ford said.
Contact Rob Novit at rnovit@aikenstandard.com.
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