By Jennifer van Hardenberg, St. Margaret’s School, Victoria, BC, CANADA ::
Excerpt from: A Recap of Girls Can Do : Seattle | February 2015
I recently had the privilege of accompanying a group of four teenage girls and a parent mentor from St. Margaret’s Steering Committee to Seattle to attend a very special event.
Jennifer van Hardenberg, Karen Clark Cole and SMS girls
“This is not a girls’ empowerment conference,” Karen clarified, as she gave her intro speech. “Everything you need to succeed is already inside of you.” But regardless of intention it was a very empowering trip. I peeked at the response card one young SMS participant there with her parents, and she had written, “This has been the most inspiring day of my life.”
Girls Can Do seeks to inspire a generation of what they call “POSSIBILITY THINKERS,” and encourage young women to have big dreams and to chase them. A POSSIBILITY THINKER is a way of thinking about the world and the opportunities available to you as an individual.
A POSSIBILITY THINKER sees a problem, and instead of thinking it’s too complex or perhaps someone else should deal with it, seeks to find a solution and rallies support to put that solution into action. This is also known as gumption, chutzpah, resourcefulness.
A POSSIBILITY THINKER experiences a setback, and instead of shutting down and giving up, understands the power of “yet” and tries again; tries harder, smarter, different. This is also known as grit, tenacity, perseverance.
A POSSIBILITY THINKER comes across a big opportunity, and instead of thinking they’re not qualified, thinks “if somebody’s got to do it, why not me?” This is also known as courage, self-confidence, or as Karen put it, being unstoppable.
“Success is not handed to you on a silver platter….[You need to] develop resilience to become unstoppable, and that only comes from learning from mistakes,” Karen said to the girls and their mentors gathered in Seattle.
Read the full article:
Inspiring Possibility Thinkers, A Recap of Girls Can Do : Seattle | February 2015
SMS at Benaroya
0 Comments