Conference inspires young women
For Olivia Keyowski, the highlight of Thursday’s Power of Being A Girl conference wasn’t listening to speakers or doing an art project.
For the Grade 11 student at Miller Comprehensive High School, the YWCA conference’s biggest merit was connecting with other women.
“It’s nice to see that other people understand what it is that typical teenage girls have to go through today,” said Keyowski.
The conference, in its seventh year in Regina, hosted girls aged 1217 from 10 Regina and area schools at the Hotel Saskatchewan.
Its focus on violence prevention was tied to the YWCA’s national Week Without Violence, which promotes working together to build safer communities.
Attendance jumped to 150 from 90 last year.
“It’s a big number and the topics are really important so we’re hoping that girls leave the conference feeling excited, feeling empowered and feeling inspired by the things they learned,” said Kerri Hill, YWCA social programs co-ordinator and conference organizer.
With a variety of speakers — including a domestic violence survivor (Katherine Clubb), a police officer (Cpl. Tracey Dunnigan) and a former refugee (Tila Nepal) — and activities, “Everybody can leave learning something that they didn’t already know,” said Hill.
Aside from sessions featuring speakers, there were two handson sessions: Sudha Srinivas introduced students to Bolly-cise — getting fit through Bollywood dancing, and Paper Crane Arts Studio led a workshop about “creating your destiny,” in which students decorated cards and created a positive personal affirmation.
I am proud, I am grounded, I deserve the best, and I have the right to be happy were just a few of those mantras.
For St. Luke student Sara Armstrong, Dunnigan’s presentation about missing and murdered aboriginal women stood out.
“I’m Metis, so it kind of makes me think about my friends and everything too,” said the Grade 12 student. “Everyone’s connected in a way, because maybe your friend or your mom might know the mother or the aunt of the person who was missing.”
The various speakers provided a wake-up call for Keyowski: “Having that realization that the stories that you hear are real, what women go through is real,” she said. “It’s kind of a jump-start to the heart and to the head to kind of remind yourself you don’t know what other people go through, and when you do find out, you need to help them.”
YWCA director of social programs Kendra Strong-Garcia said the hope for next year is to offer the conference over two days, one for boys and one for girls.
“I think it’s just as important to teach the boys about healthy relationships and equality. It’s not just a women’s issue. It’s a human issue and everybody needs to be aware of it,” she said.