Boys & Girls Club brings young women together with Summit
COLUMBUS, Miss. (WCBI) – While we are in the middle of Women’s History Month, the local Boys and Girls Club celebrates women’s unity.
The organization hosted its 3rd annual SMART Girls Summit at Starkville’s Boys and Girls Club.
This brings in many lessons for girls of all ages, such as hearing from women in the community talking about leadership skills and other traits of a woman.
The Boys and Girls Club of the Golden Triangle brings young women together to learn life, leadership, and community service skills.
Organizers hope the teens will see positive changes in their lives from the 3rd annual SMART Girls summit.
Starkville Unity Director, Christopher Thompson, said the event is essential for transitioning a young girl to a woman.
“Aside from anything else, just being able to see our young people’s faces leaving and smiling,” Thompson said. “You know, seeing them gain in that insight, then seeing a great leader in our community, and knowing that one day that can be me as well. So it does my heart wonders.”
The summit is filled with free food, prizes, and interactive sessions for girls of all ages to participate.
Alderwoman Kim Moreland said she hopes can inspire a new generation of women to be able to lead.
“Today, I’m going to be talking about leadership and just teaching girls about what’s important when it comes to leadership,” Moreland said. “Trust, you can’t be a leader if they don’t trust you. I’m talking about the smartest person in the room who is not always the best person for the job. You’ve got to be able to relate to the people you are supposed to be leading. Just giving them kind of life lessons.”
The girls said it is essential to hear from professionals on different career paths.
“It makes me feel good cause you rarely see a SMART girl summit where just girls have the opportunity to do it,” Padaris Lawrence said. “You usually see like Passport to Main Health, that’s another thing we have offered for boys at the Boys and Girls Club. But, we just started our SMART girls summit so it’s been a blessing.”
The Boys and Girls Club said they will continue to host events to uplift the community of the youth.
