Lesley University, Cambridge, MA, USA
Welcome to the
Women2Women 2007 Conference Blog
We asked participants, staff and guests to blog
about their experience at Women2Women in
2007. Here is their candid views of the W2W
2007 Conference.
August 9-10,
2007
Last day of the Conference
The day
started with Jim Roosevelt, the grandson of Eleanor
and Franklin Roosevelt, from whom we learnd so many
things about the amazing Eleanor Roosevelt: what
she faced and how she handled the problems that she
faced, and what Jim learnt from his grandmother
during the time he was with her. After that we got
the wonderful opportunity to meet Soymya
Viswanathan from whom we learned how to create
change and have an impact on those around us. We
were asked to write 3 things we wanted to do in
this coming year and speak about it. From this
activity we saw how much we can actually achieve by
just taking our first step and writing our goals
down.
After that we headed towards The Charles Hotel where we had the most yummiest and chic lunch! And got to meet the amazing woman chef Jody Adams from whom we heard about how she got to where she got to, and learned that her favorite cuisine is the Mediterranean cuisine.
Later on we got the much-awaited free time! Where girls went shopping and sightseeing! The New England Aquarium rocks! After our free time we went back to Lesley University and enjoyed a wonderful BBQ night with loads of dancing and great American burgers! As that was our last night all the girls stayed up all night exchanging e-mails and hugs. The next day was our departure day. So many tears were shed and buckets were filled. It was very hard for all of us to leave one another since we were finally getting to know each other very well. Like I said in the beginning, every story has a beginning and every story has an end, and here we have come to the end of it. Thank you Rick and Tricia for giving us all this wonderful chance. Thanks Asad, Michael and Doug for taping us and making us laugh. Kari for being there and helping us always, Porkey for driving us around Boston and Cambridge and thanks everybody for the beautiful days we lived. A big thanks goes Empower Peace—I've come back to Bahrain with beautiful dreams for the future, with loads of lessons learnt, new friendships and cultural bridges of mutual understanding built, and wonderful memories to cherish.
POSTED BY REEM - PARTICPANT FROM BAHRAIN
After that we headed towards The Charles Hotel where we had the most yummiest and chic lunch! And got to meet the amazing woman chef Jody Adams from whom we heard about how she got to where she got to, and learned that her favorite cuisine is the Mediterranean cuisine.
Later on we got the much-awaited free time! Where girls went shopping and sightseeing! The New England Aquarium rocks! After our free time we went back to Lesley University and enjoyed a wonderful BBQ night with loads of dancing and great American burgers! As that was our last night all the girls stayed up all night exchanging e-mails and hugs. The next day was our departure day. So many tears were shed and buckets were filled. It was very hard for all of us to leave one another since we were finally getting to know each other very well. Like I said in the beginning, every story has a beginning and every story has an end, and here we have come to the end of it. Thank you Rick and Tricia for giving us all this wonderful chance. Thanks Asad, Michael and Doug for taping us and making us laugh. Kari for being there and helping us always, Porkey for driving us around Boston and Cambridge and thanks everybody for the beautiful days we lived. A big thanks goes Empower Peace—I've come back to Bahrain with beautiful dreams for the future, with loads of lessons learnt, new friendships and cultural bridges of mutual understanding built, and wonderful memories to cherish.
POSTED BY REEM - PARTICPANT FROM BAHRAIN
August 8, 2007
From
leadership to politics to management to balancing
our life and career, today we went through
workshops that confronted other aspects like
environment and media.
After breakfast we had the honor to meet Madeline Yucht, who talked to us about the importance of personal power. She taught us how to recognize it, how to implement it, how to advance with it, which to us proved very useful, and she also told us that we are our own magic genie. After that we headed towards Tufts University, where we met an amazing woman called Dr. Mishkat Al Moumin who is an Iraqi woman leader. She talked to us about her experience as a lawyer, about her education, how she got where she is today considering that she lived under Saddam's regime. She talked to us about the problems she faced and how she overcame them. She inspired me a lot personally, since I often found myself in the same position she went through as a young lady trying to achieve her dreams and career even though she's a woman, an Arab and a Muslim.
After that we met a great group of leading women in the media and journalism area. With them we discussed whether the media was giving the people the right messages, how much of the truth was reveled to people, and what can we do to make our voices and stories heard through the media. We headed towards Walden Woods after that session where we met Kathy Anderson who talked to us about community activism and the environment and how we can get involved in environmental programs and projects that help our community. We learnt that our hand is a miracle, our body is a miracle and life is a miracle, which means that everything is a miracle. After the presentation we went on a tour around the Walden Pond, which was absolutely beautiful even though it was a long tiring walk. We had a wonderful time taking our shoes and socks off and dipping our feet in the pond while watching the sunset with a sandwich in our hands, which was our dinner.
We headed towards Lesley University and ended the day by attending presentations held by the delegations of Morocco, Palestine and Pakistan. I can't believe that tomorrow is the last day for all of us together. In such a short time we have all become friends and we're finally getting to know each other very well. I feel that it's a shame that we have to leave so soon but I know that we'll definitely be enjoying our last day together and making the most of it and as they say we'll make sure to let the diamonds shine!
POSTED BY REEM - PARTICIPANT FROM BAHRAIN
It's 4:37am & I'm locked out of my dorm building. So I sit here writing this while thoughts are taking a long jog through my head. Each step of my thoughts and memories of this conference is an explosive patter of feet on cement.
Get ready for a run-on and grammatically incorrect sentence. From learning to accept Fatima's trust in her religion & arranged marriages, to relating to Dina on the delicate balance of taking care of others yet pursuing opportunities for yourself, while listening to Reem and Sarah paint a portrait about the beauty of their country Bahrain, and watching Neria struggle to shape English words with her tongue muscles, all the while struggling to understand the passion and pain that is deeply imbedded in our group over the Palestine-Israel conflict as Hala angrily writes "We want peace, but we never said we would forgive,” I've found that this conference was nothing that I expected. I'm learning a lot.
"I myself have never been able to find out precisely what feminism is: I only know that people call me a feminist whenever I express sentiments that differentiate me from a doormat."
-Rebecca West, British writer, speaking in 1913
POSTED BY IRENE JOR - PARTICIPANT FROM MASSACHUSETTS, US
After breakfast we had the honor to meet Madeline Yucht, who talked to us about the importance of personal power. She taught us how to recognize it, how to implement it, how to advance with it, which to us proved very useful, and she also told us that we are our own magic genie. After that we headed towards Tufts University, where we met an amazing woman called Dr. Mishkat Al Moumin who is an Iraqi woman leader. She talked to us about her experience as a lawyer, about her education, how she got where she is today considering that she lived under Saddam's regime. She talked to us about the problems she faced and how she overcame them. She inspired me a lot personally, since I often found myself in the same position she went through as a young lady trying to achieve her dreams and career even though she's a woman, an Arab and a Muslim.
After that we met a great group of leading women in the media and journalism area. With them we discussed whether the media was giving the people the right messages, how much of the truth was reveled to people, and what can we do to make our voices and stories heard through the media. We headed towards Walden Woods after that session where we met Kathy Anderson who talked to us about community activism and the environment and how we can get involved in environmental programs and projects that help our community. We learnt that our hand is a miracle, our body is a miracle and life is a miracle, which means that everything is a miracle. After the presentation we went on a tour around the Walden Pond, which was absolutely beautiful even though it was a long tiring walk. We had a wonderful time taking our shoes and socks off and dipping our feet in the pond while watching the sunset with a sandwich in our hands, which was our dinner.
We headed towards Lesley University and ended the day by attending presentations held by the delegations of Morocco, Palestine and Pakistan. I can't believe that tomorrow is the last day for all of us together. In such a short time we have all become friends and we're finally getting to know each other very well. I feel that it's a shame that we have to leave so soon but I know that we'll definitely be enjoying our last day together and making the most of it and as they say we'll make sure to let the diamonds shine!
POSTED BY REEM - PARTICIPANT FROM BAHRAIN
It's 4:37am & I'm locked out of my dorm building. So I sit here writing this while thoughts are taking a long jog through my head. Each step of my thoughts and memories of this conference is an explosive patter of feet on cement.
Get ready for a run-on and grammatically incorrect sentence. From learning to accept Fatima's trust in her religion & arranged marriages, to relating to Dina on the delicate balance of taking care of others yet pursuing opportunities for yourself, while listening to Reem and Sarah paint a portrait about the beauty of their country Bahrain, and watching Neria struggle to shape English words with her tongue muscles, all the while struggling to understand the passion and pain that is deeply imbedded in our group over the Palestine-Israel conflict as Hala angrily writes "We want peace, but we never said we would forgive,” I've found that this conference was nothing that I expected. I'm learning a lot.
"I myself have never been able to find out precisely what feminism is: I only know that people call me a feminist whenever I express sentiments that differentiate me from a doormat."
-Rebecca West, British writer, speaking in 1913
POSTED BY IRENE JOR - PARTICIPANT FROM MASSACHUSETTS, US
August 7, 2007
My
name is Sarah Wilson, I am 17 and I am representing
Bharain in this conference but I am originally from
Egypt and I want to start off by saying that I am
so grateful to have been given this wonderful
once-in-a-lifetime opportunity
This is basically my first visit to the United States and I am glad I am in Boston because this city has such a good reputation and people who get the chance to come here are actually referred to as "the lucky ones". I have also met an American student who is from the state of Michigan and she has always heard of Boston but this is actually her first time here.
Up till now, it has been so great and I am having loads of fun but at the same time loads of very valuable information. We have met many women with leading roles in their native and international societies. They are very inspirational and that is exactly what we young women need at this age.
When I first found out that Israel, Palestine and Lebanon were to participate in this conference I was even more excited. It is just amazing that despite all of the conflicts that are happening between the countries they can actually join together in one room, under one roof, and just interact as young leaders each representing her country and her opinion and freely speaking out her mind. It is not necessary that we all agree with everything anyone has to say but we do know that the most prominent quality in a leader -as we have learnt- is mastering the art of negotiation, which includes respecting the differences and embracing the fact that through differences we can still bring about peace and a common ground between the two parties.
I cannot possibly wrap it up without mentioning that it is because of the persistence and the vision of the optimistic Tricia Raynard, Rick Rendon, Diane Caldwell and all of those who helped the cause that this conference has come into being and is proving to be successful as each day passes by.
I mentioned in my essay while applying for this conference that spreading the message is the heart and soul of this or any other understanding-promoting conference, and I am going to start with the closest people starting from friends and family and that would be just the beginning.
In the end, I would like to conclude by quoting from Reverend Gloria Hammond's speech, "It's about time". To all of the young aspiring women out there, it's about time you stand out and make a change so just aim for the moon and even if you didn't reach I assure you that you will land on one of the nearby stars.
POSTED BY SARAH WILSON - PARTICIPANT FROM BAHRAIN
I really liked Negotiations workshop at Harvard Law School and learned that my conflict style was avoider, which I should overcome and use other styles such problem solving, compromising, confronting and others.
I also learned that women tend to underestimate their abilities and, for instance, do not "ask" for salary raise or other things. I found out that all girls have similarities and differences as well.
I was impressed by the girls’ abilities to speak English so well, that they are already determined, have clear goals in the life, are real future leaders and very talented students, even though the majority are 16 years old. They have deep knowledge of the situation in their regions, very active and have great IT skills.
POSTED BY SHARIFA DJURABAEVA - Teacher from Uzbekistan
Another wonderful day has passed where new lessons have been learnt, more inspiration has come to all of us and most importantly the bonds of friendships are thickening with everything we're passing through together while holding each other's hands. Today it's been an extremely busy day. We were up since 6h30 a.m. and after breakfast we met our first speaker of the day, who was an absolutely magnificent woman. Arden O'Conner showed us that if you really believe in something it'll definitely happen no matter how hard it is. She had a very touching and brave story for us about her personal life and told us how she over came the obstacles she faced since she had leukemia and how she amazingly believed that she will not die but will live and how she pulled herself through. I felt overwhelmed with her standing in front of us cured and healthy while telling us her story. She told us about her experience and passion of working with young men who had committed violence offences and how her organization has helped a lot of young men.
After that we headed towards Harvard Law School where we had a negotiation session where we learned the art of negotiation, the steps we need to take, how to approach the subject and how to come to a good result that will benefit both parties. We were given a few activities to do that showed us the difficulties that we could face and how to go about the situation, which I found very helpful. After the session we returned to Lesley University where we had a networking session where we learned from Vicki Donlan the skills of networking. She taught us not to be shy and how to come forward and introduce ourselves to others when getting into a new group, and how to go about and have contacts that will help us in the future.
After lunch we met a group of amazing woman from the business world who were all leaders. They shared their experiences with us, the problems they faced, how they tackled the problems and we had the lovely opportunity to ask our questions and get them all answered in a very inspiring way.
We were all very tired as it's been a long day but were given a beautiful activity that helped us spiritually and mentally with wonderful music that showed us through meditative visualization how wonderful leaders we could be in the future. We were asked to draw a picture from our imagination of our role model leader and were asked to write the qualities we saw in that leader which gave us an opportunity to look into our inner self.
We had the rare and wonderful opportunity to meet two friends. One a woman who is an Israeli, and the other a man who is a Palestinian. They are both best friends and met in college and did arts together. They presented a little play on how they met which touched our hearts and showed us that we can in fact all be friends and bring peace to the world with a little effort.
After a quick dinner we went the John F Kennedy school of politics where we met global women leaders from different countries, from which we heard how they got to their positions today where each was a first woman in the position in her country.
We concluded our day with a women2women cake and a beautiful memorial picture. With this I have filled another page in my life with extraordinary things that I have learnt. We all are different butterflies; each of us shouldn't be afraid to spread her wings and fly. Looking at a butterfly you may say that her wings are fragile but in reality it isn't and it actually takes the butterfly quite high. We start out in an egg then become a caterpillar followed by a cocoon and then finally a beautiful butterfly that flies high in the sky and touches the stars and is not afraid of dreaming. Today I’m including a quote of my own that says, "Dream, believe and achieve". I have learnt today to always dream and work hard to achieve my dreams and that opportunities don't just come to you, you have to create and look for an opportunity.
POSTED BY Reem Al-Mualla
This is basically my first visit to the United States and I am glad I am in Boston because this city has such a good reputation and people who get the chance to come here are actually referred to as "the lucky ones". I have also met an American student who is from the state of Michigan and she has always heard of Boston but this is actually her first time here.
Up till now, it has been so great and I am having loads of fun but at the same time loads of very valuable information. We have met many women with leading roles in their native and international societies. They are very inspirational and that is exactly what we young women need at this age.
When I first found out that Israel, Palestine and Lebanon were to participate in this conference I was even more excited. It is just amazing that despite all of the conflicts that are happening between the countries they can actually join together in one room, under one roof, and just interact as young leaders each representing her country and her opinion and freely speaking out her mind. It is not necessary that we all agree with everything anyone has to say but we do know that the most prominent quality in a leader -as we have learnt- is mastering the art of negotiation, which includes respecting the differences and embracing the fact that through differences we can still bring about peace and a common ground between the two parties.
I cannot possibly wrap it up without mentioning that it is because of the persistence and the vision of the optimistic Tricia Raynard, Rick Rendon, Diane Caldwell and all of those who helped the cause that this conference has come into being and is proving to be successful as each day passes by.
I mentioned in my essay while applying for this conference that spreading the message is the heart and soul of this or any other understanding-promoting conference, and I am going to start with the closest people starting from friends and family and that would be just the beginning.
In the end, I would like to conclude by quoting from Reverend Gloria Hammond's speech, "It's about time". To all of the young aspiring women out there, it's about time you stand out and make a change so just aim for the moon and even if you didn't reach I assure you that you will land on one of the nearby stars.
POSTED BY SARAH WILSON - PARTICIPANT FROM BAHRAIN
I really liked Negotiations workshop at Harvard Law School and learned that my conflict style was avoider, which I should overcome and use other styles such problem solving, compromising, confronting and others.
I also learned that women tend to underestimate their abilities and, for instance, do not "ask" for salary raise or other things. I found out that all girls have similarities and differences as well.
I was impressed by the girls’ abilities to speak English so well, that they are already determined, have clear goals in the life, are real future leaders and very talented students, even though the majority are 16 years old. They have deep knowledge of the situation in their regions, very active and have great IT skills.
POSTED BY SHARIFA DJURABAEVA - Teacher from Uzbekistan
Another wonderful day has passed where new lessons have been learnt, more inspiration has come to all of us and most importantly the bonds of friendships are thickening with everything we're passing through together while holding each other's hands. Today it's been an extremely busy day. We were up since 6h30 a.m. and after breakfast we met our first speaker of the day, who was an absolutely magnificent woman. Arden O'Conner showed us that if you really believe in something it'll definitely happen no matter how hard it is. She had a very touching and brave story for us about her personal life and told us how she over came the obstacles she faced since she had leukemia and how she amazingly believed that she will not die but will live and how she pulled herself through. I felt overwhelmed with her standing in front of us cured and healthy while telling us her story. She told us about her experience and passion of working with young men who had committed violence offences and how her organization has helped a lot of young men.
After that we headed towards Harvard Law School where we had a negotiation session where we learned the art of negotiation, the steps we need to take, how to approach the subject and how to come to a good result that will benefit both parties. We were given a few activities to do that showed us the difficulties that we could face and how to go about the situation, which I found very helpful. After the session we returned to Lesley University where we had a networking session where we learned from Vicki Donlan the skills of networking. She taught us not to be shy and how to come forward and introduce ourselves to others when getting into a new group, and how to go about and have contacts that will help us in the future.
After lunch we met a group of amazing woman from the business world who were all leaders. They shared their experiences with us, the problems they faced, how they tackled the problems and we had the lovely opportunity to ask our questions and get them all answered in a very inspiring way.
We were all very tired as it's been a long day but were given a beautiful activity that helped us spiritually and mentally with wonderful music that showed us through meditative visualization how wonderful leaders we could be in the future. We were asked to draw a picture from our imagination of our role model leader and were asked to write the qualities we saw in that leader which gave us an opportunity to look into our inner self.
We had the rare and wonderful opportunity to meet two friends. One a woman who is an Israeli, and the other a man who is a Palestinian. They are both best friends and met in college and did arts together. They presented a little play on how they met which touched our hearts and showed us that we can in fact all be friends and bring peace to the world with a little effort.
After a quick dinner we went the John F Kennedy school of politics where we met global women leaders from different countries, from which we heard how they got to their positions today where each was a first woman in the position in her country.
We concluded our day with a women2women cake and a beautiful memorial picture. With this I have filled another page in my life with extraordinary things that I have learnt. We all are different butterflies; each of us shouldn't be afraid to spread her wings and fly. Looking at a butterfly you may say that her wings are fragile but in reality it isn't and it actually takes the butterfly quite high. We start out in an egg then become a caterpillar followed by a cocoon and then finally a beautiful butterfly that flies high in the sky and touches the stars and is not afraid of dreaming. Today I’m including a quote of my own that says, "Dream, believe and achieve". I have learnt today to always dream and work hard to achieve my dreams and that opportunities don't just come to you, you have to create and look for an opportunity.
POSTED BY Reem Al-Mualla
August 6, 2007
For every
story there is a beginning and for every story
there is an ending. The Second Annual Empower Peace
W2W conference started yesterday at Lesley
University where 45 young ladies from around the
globe gathered to attend this wonderful conference,
luckily i am very blessed and i am one of these
young ladies. I arrived from Bahrain on the 4th of
august '07 and was assigned my room, after that i
got to know my peers whom i discovered were from 10
different countries. After having dinner we all
went out on a stroll in Cambridge towards Harvard
Square where we looked around and were introduced
to the nightlife in Cambridge.
The next day we the students of the Arab and Muslim world went out to discover Boston. We took the "T" where we got a glimpse of how most of Massachusetts gets around Boston, Cambridge and the neighboring towns. We head towards Lechmere where we visited the Galleria Mall and later on went to Downtown Crossing and got to see the famous freedom trail. As time was short we headed back to Lesley University where we met the US students who had started arriving. i was very excited about meeting my roommate from the states. She's a wonderful girl called Irene and she's from Boston, Massachusetts. We sat down together and had dinner while i told her a bit about my country while she told me about Boston.
After dinner we went to Alumni Hall where we had the welcome reception and met two amazing woman who are leaders here in the United States. One was Empower Peace's coordinator Diane Caldwelll and the other was Reverand Gloria Hammond who touched me personally by her words and brought tears to my eyes as I was filled with inspiration and the truth of her words struck a cord in me which i think I'll carry with me always and forever. I learned three things from here one is that when things happen "it's all about time" and then after a while of waiting "it's about time" and lastly to say NO when i have to. The thing that really inspired me was when she said that every woman has a song and when she forgets her song along the way there will always be someone who will whisper the words in your ears and remind you of your song"
Today we met so many extraordinary woman. it was indeed a busy day but the fruits were worth it. First we met Victoria Budson who reminded me of the saying that said " if you give a man a fish and you'd have fed him today but if you teach him to fish you have fed him forever"
After meeting Victoria we all headed towards the State House where we were given a tour around the state house and was told about the history it carried with it. while having lunch we met with Juliette Kayyem who is the first woman in the US to hold a position in Homeland Security and from which i learned a lot too. After that we went to the Senate Chambers where we got to meet a group of amazing women who talked to us about their success and failures ,about the difficulties they have faced, how they tackle problems and balance their personal life and their career. We were taught how to become good and wise leaders and that women are not emotional instead they are passionate.
After meeting with the first youngest African-American woman judge in the US Judge Alexander who inspired us by telling us about how she got to her position and what she went through. In the evening we headed towards Lesley University where we had dinner and then we headed to the alumni hall where 4 countries gave presentations about their country and were i learned a lot of things that i didn't know. After that we had ice cream and then a wonderful dance class which gave us a taste of American hip hop!
Life is like a book with empty pages with every day that passes a page is being filled with lessons that are learned , successes and failures. Today's lesson is that believe in yourself and you will succeed and if you fail it's not the end of the world all you have to do is pick yourself up and climb again until you succeed.
--- POSTED BY REEM - Bahrain - Participant
The next day we the students of the Arab and Muslim world went out to discover Boston. We took the "T" where we got a glimpse of how most of Massachusetts gets around Boston, Cambridge and the neighboring towns. We head towards Lechmere where we visited the Galleria Mall and later on went to Downtown Crossing and got to see the famous freedom trail. As time was short we headed back to Lesley University where we met the US students who had started arriving. i was very excited about meeting my roommate from the states. She's a wonderful girl called Irene and she's from Boston, Massachusetts. We sat down together and had dinner while i told her a bit about my country while she told me about Boston.
After dinner we went to Alumni Hall where we had the welcome reception and met two amazing woman who are leaders here in the United States. One was Empower Peace's coordinator Diane Caldwelll and the other was Reverand Gloria Hammond who touched me personally by her words and brought tears to my eyes as I was filled with inspiration and the truth of her words struck a cord in me which i think I'll carry with me always and forever. I learned three things from here one is that when things happen "it's all about time" and then after a while of waiting "it's about time" and lastly to say NO when i have to. The thing that really inspired me was when she said that every woman has a song and when she forgets her song along the way there will always be someone who will whisper the words in your ears and remind you of your song"
Today we met so many extraordinary woman. it was indeed a busy day but the fruits were worth it. First we met Victoria Budson who reminded me of the saying that said " if you give a man a fish and you'd have fed him today but if you teach him to fish you have fed him forever"
After meeting Victoria we all headed towards the State House where we were given a tour around the state house and was told about the history it carried with it. while having lunch we met with Juliette Kayyem who is the first woman in the US to hold a position in Homeland Security and from which i learned a lot too. After that we went to the Senate Chambers where we got to meet a group of amazing women who talked to us about their success and failures ,about the difficulties they have faced, how they tackle problems and balance their personal life and their career. We were taught how to become good and wise leaders and that women are not emotional instead they are passionate.
After meeting with the first youngest African-American woman judge in the US Judge Alexander who inspired us by telling us about how she got to her position and what she went through. In the evening we headed towards Lesley University where we had dinner and then we headed to the alumni hall where 4 countries gave presentations about their country and were i learned a lot of things that i didn't know. After that we had ice cream and then a wonderful dance class which gave us a taste of American hip hop!
Life is like a book with empty pages with every day that passes a page is being filled with lessons that are learned , successes and failures. Today's lesson is that believe in yourself and you will succeed and if you fail it's not the end of the world all you have to do is pick yourself up and climb again until you succeed.
--- POSTED BY REEM - Bahrain - Participant
August 5, 2007
My name is
Irene Jor, I'm 17 and a rising senior at the
Academy of the Pacific Rim Charter Public
High School. I will be participating as part
of the United States delegation for this
Women2Women conference.
A little bit about myself...Since I was 13 I've been involved in my community in various ways. I am especially passionate about domestic violence and the well being and rights of women. Growing up first generation Chinese abuse was not uncommon within my household and among some of my closest friends. Through different organizations that have reached out to me and taught me to reach out to others I've found the courage to become more educated in different social issues while leading to create change.
Like the rest of the young women who are a part of this conference, I bring both my voice, my ears, my aspirations, and my personality. I enjoy traveling;among the trips I've made I have backpacked the Silk Road route in China at 15 and I just came back today from a 5 week trip in Africa where I traveled through South Africa, Namibia, Zambia, Malawi, and Mozambique. I also enjoy playing lacrosse, volunteering as a snowboard instructor, and salsa dancing. Community service is a big part of my life and through City Year, Boston Center for Community and Justice, Youth Service America, and my school's National Honor Society I have been able to spread my passion for service and community engagement.
As for what I expect from this conference...Honestly I don't know exactly what to expect. When I read the description for the conference I was intrigued by the idea of the cross cultural exchange that would be made. I applied not fully understanding the details and didn't have the opportunity to make any calls or emails during my trip before the conference. But I know some of my best experiences have been when I have no idea what to expect. Just from the first few hours since I've gotten here, having chatted a little with Cary and Tricia and looked over our schedule for the next six days I'm blown away by the ambition and passion that the people running this conference have.
I'm holding myself to being outgoing and really taking the opportunity to talk to my peers who have come from all over and learning about their lifestyle while in exchange sharing my own. I also really want to hear the female leaders that have been gathered for this conference, it helps with your own vision of success and self respect to know there have been those who have gone before you and paved the way. This conference is full of opportunities to learn and develop leadership skills in the presence of other strong young women, and in addition to all that has already been put into it, it will be up to the participants to make it powerful.
-POSTED BY IRENE JOR - Massachusetts, USA - Participant
I'm so excited to finally be at the conference, I already know its going to be an amazing week. Everyone I've encountered so far have been welcoming and personable and really made me feel comfortable.
The campus is gorgeous and I love the rooms we're able to be staying in. I can't wait to meet my roommate and get to know all about her and how she likes the US so far.
I think what I'm looking forward to the most would have to be the Women in the Media portion of the conference because thats what I'm most interested in, but I can tell already that everything we do is going to be fascinating.
POSTED BY BRITTANY BERGQUIST - Massachusetts, USA - Participant
A little bit about myself...Since I was 13 I've been involved in my community in various ways. I am especially passionate about domestic violence and the well being and rights of women. Growing up first generation Chinese abuse was not uncommon within my household and among some of my closest friends. Through different organizations that have reached out to me and taught me to reach out to others I've found the courage to become more educated in different social issues while leading to create change.
Like the rest of the young women who are a part of this conference, I bring both my voice, my ears, my aspirations, and my personality. I enjoy traveling;among the trips I've made I have backpacked the Silk Road route in China at 15 and I just came back today from a 5 week trip in Africa where I traveled through South Africa, Namibia, Zambia, Malawi, and Mozambique. I also enjoy playing lacrosse, volunteering as a snowboard instructor, and salsa dancing. Community service is a big part of my life and through City Year, Boston Center for Community and Justice, Youth Service America, and my school's National Honor Society I have been able to spread my passion for service and community engagement.
As for what I expect from this conference...Honestly I don't know exactly what to expect. When I read the description for the conference I was intrigued by the idea of the cross cultural exchange that would be made. I applied not fully understanding the details and didn't have the opportunity to make any calls or emails during my trip before the conference. But I know some of my best experiences have been when I have no idea what to expect. Just from the first few hours since I've gotten here, having chatted a little with Cary and Tricia and looked over our schedule for the next six days I'm blown away by the ambition and passion that the people running this conference have.
I'm holding myself to being outgoing and really taking the opportunity to talk to my peers who have come from all over and learning about their lifestyle while in exchange sharing my own. I also really want to hear the female leaders that have been gathered for this conference, it helps with your own vision of success and self respect to know there have been those who have gone before you and paved the way. This conference is full of opportunities to learn and develop leadership skills in the presence of other strong young women, and in addition to all that has already been put into it, it will be up to the participants to make it powerful.
-POSTED BY IRENE JOR - Massachusetts, USA - Participant
I'm so excited to finally be at the conference, I already know its going to be an amazing week. Everyone I've encountered so far have been welcoming and personable and really made me feel comfortable.
The campus is gorgeous and I love the rooms we're able to be staying in. I can't wait to meet my roommate and get to know all about her and how she likes the US so far.
I think what I'm looking forward to the most would have to be the Women in the Media portion of the conference because thats what I'm most interested in, but I can tell already that everything we do is going to be fascinating.
POSTED BY BRITTANY BERGQUIST - Massachusetts, USA - Participant
Women2Women
Cultural Connection & Leadership
Program