Image from Sen. Alan Lowenthal's Office Website
The first ever “Young Women’s Empowerment Conference” was held on Oct. 13 in the ballroom conference center at CSULB with much excitement and gratitude for Sen. Alan Lowenthal who sponsored the event.
The conference was created to establish the values of leadership and self-confidence for those high school junior and senior female students entering four-year universities.
Geneve Villacres, a 27th Senate District Representative and fellow alumnus of CSULB said, “This conference was set up to teach girls to become better leaders as well as to build leadership for girls to become the powerhouse of the future.”
In respect to the conference’s theme to prepare young girls to “think beyond tomorrow,” several workshops and activities were created to stimulate growth potential for these students to achieve greater personal and academic goals.
The most popular activity was the Fashion Show, which showcased how young women can be empowered through the clothes they wear. Whether or not the clothes were for a business meeting or a night-out-on-the-town the message was quite clear: “Women are an integral part of the future of society,” as Andrea Vrooman reiterated, a Journalism and English teacher from Gahr High School in Cerritos, Calif.
An important subject matter behind this conference was the issue behind the many victims of domestic violence. However, the conference’s purpose was not to address the subject head-on but rather, be sensitive about the issue. “No matter what happens these issues shouldn’t affect these young women’s self-worth,” said Sarah Noone, a senior film major and Secretary of Women’s Affairs in ASI.
While wearing the conference’s signature black-and-gold colored shirt, Noone continued, “Women who have overcome barriers have imparted wisdom on a one-to-one basis with others, and to take these ideas at a group level at the conference, will just be beneficial for the community as a whole.”
More than 300 girls attended from all over the 27th Senate District including students who came from schools in the: ABC Unified, Downey, Paramount, Long Beach, Lynwood, and Los Angeles School Districts.
One attendee, Laura Romo, a senior from Paramount High School and an aspiring Education major said, “The conference really helped me to become more inspired, if there was another chance to do it all over again I would.”
