YWLC Alumni 2013
I attended the inaugural Young Women’s Leadership Challenge camp in the summer of 2013. I would be entering my junior year of high school that fall and my YWLC experience could not have happened at a more crucial time. The leadership qualities that were unearthed in me that summer have played key roles in the way I tackle challenges and find success in life even today. Finding inspiration after the camp, I went back to school with a goal to instill confidence and global awareness to my peers. Celine De Leon, who also attended the camp, and I founded the Young Women’s Leadership Club of Elkins High School. With the wealth of information provided from The Pangea Network and the summer camp, we were able to create an educational program that drew in other young adults who wanted to develop confidence, global awareness and skills to develop action plans. We were proud of our club and its popularity grew our senior year.
We held a ‘No Makeup Day’ t-shirt campaign to raise nearly $400 for The Pangea Network and generate conversation about American beauty standards. Many of our members attended the YWLC summer [conference] to advance their knowledge and expand their networks. Often, those who attended brought back new information to the club and later became officers to positively influence our community. I have attended many of the [conferences] in various ways since 2013 to support the next generation of young women and share my experiences as I began my time at Texas A&M University.
More often now, I rely on the skills I learned at camp to be successful in college. I am able to step out of my comfort zone to have difficult conversations with peers or network with recruiters because of the leadership skills I developed with The Pangea Network. I am now a Student Coordinator at Texas A&M – Help Desk Central, providing technical support to campus affiliates and leading other student technicians.
I have recently been honored by being named the inaugural Student Technician of the month for my role in creating team camaraderie and developing training programs for new hires. Needless to say, my experience with [YWLC] and The Pangea Network have played vital roles in developing a passion for education, leadership, and being the positive change, I want to see in our world.
