February
28, 2003 Develop
a Leader: Nominate a High Schooler for Take the Lead
Mount Holyoke is seeking
nominations of bright, idealistic high school sophomores who want
to make a positive difference in the world. Forty women will be
selected to participate in the fourth year of Take the Lead, the
College's annual leadership program for high school students,
which will run October 2 through 5. Participants will build their
leadership skills by attending workshops, working with MHC student
mentors, and listening to successful women leaders. They will
also develop action plans to address issues of concern to them.
Past programs have inspired significant accomplishments by Take
the Lead participants. Anna Boatwright, for example, left the
2001 Take the Lead with a plan to share her talents with underprivileged
children in her community of Charleston, South Carolina. The ballet
dancer was featured in the January 2003 issue of Seventeen
magazine for the results of that plan—a program of free,
weekly dance classes at a local YWCA. Caitlin Gorski of Hopkinton,
Massachusetts, a 2002 participant, is currently working with social
agencies and employers in the Boston area to organize a job fair
for the homeless. And Susan Sparrow of Salt Lake City, Utah, is
leading twenty peers in a campaign for House Bill 81, proposed
legislation to study gender-based salary inequities among Utah's
state employees. The bill has already won support from the citizen
interest group Utah Progressive Network and Salt Lake Democratic
Representative Ty McCartney. This month, Sparrow testified before
Utah's House Government Operations Committee and held a
Valentine's Day bake sale on Capitol Hill, selling large
cookies and 34 percent smaller ones (symbolic of the 66 cents
women earn for every dollar men earn). "It made me think
twice about what I'm doing to change the world," said
Sparrow about Take the Lead in an interview with columnist Holly
Mullen, who wrote about Sparrow's group for the Salt
Lake Tribune.
Members of the MHC community are invited to nominate up to three
women who are now in their sophomore year of high school. President
Joanne Creighton will write a letter of congratulations to each
nominee and invite her to apply. The MHC community will receive
Take the Lead brochures and nomination forms during the first
week of March. Nominations can also be submitted electronically
at www.mtholyoke.edu/go/takethelead.
They are due April 11, 2003.
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