Girl Rising: A Retreat with Our Nation’s Top Young Female Leaders

To say I was honored would be an understatement, I could not say ‘yes’ quick enough when asked to facilitate part of this year’s Ursuline’s Student Leadership Conference.  The opportunity to be in the presence of some of our nation’s top young female leaders was awe inspiring.  I was excited about reconnecting with my Ursuline roots and the charisms of it’s founder, Angela Merici. And even more amazing, I was able to combine it with another one of my passions: exploring the benefits of educating young girls globally while striving to eliminate one of its barriers – oppression.

During the conference, our in-depth discussion allowed us to unveil the privileges we, as Ursuline women experience as a result of our access to quality education while examining our responsibility to make a difference and to be of service.  This was an opportunity for us to put into practice Angela Merici’s principles of:

Global Girl Youth Leaders opportunity for us to put into practice Angela Merici’s principles of service

• Academic excellence
• Service
• Spirituality
• Community
• Social justice
• Openness to change
• Leadership

As Angela so aptly put it, “Concerning the people entrusted to our care:  the more you esteem them, the more you will love them; the more you love them, the more you will care for and watch over them.  And it will be impossible for you not to cherish them day and night and have them all engraved in your heart, one by one, for this is how real love acts and works.”

Why Girls’ Education?

In the film, GirlRising, they put forth the premise that “Educating girls can break cycles of poverty in just one generation.  Yet millions of girls around the world face barriers to education that boys do not.  Removing barriers such as early marriage, gender-based violence, domestic slavery and sex trafficking means not only a better life for girls, but a safer, healthier and more prosperous world for all”

As part of our discussion, we formed the Sisterhood Project.  In order to decide next steps, we broke into action teams to explore a handful of organizations that we could support together throughout this next academic year.  After researching the benefit each organization makes to bettering the lives of young girls globally, the group opted to support Education for Afghan Girls.  As part of this we committed to unite around the belief that every girl has the right to go to school and the right to reach her full potential.  With the support of the Ursuline Educational Services Staff, the young leaders and their chaperones will work across schools to support this initiative and to find ways to educate their friends about the power of GirlRising.