Women in Leadership at Orono High School was founded four years ago and has grown to be an influential club led by seniors, Jordan Case and Emma Kosek. The club is geared towards preparing girls for their futures and their possible leadership roles.
The club focuses on how women impact leadership both in a global and national level, but also how they can impact the school. Since Mr. Erickson has retired, he is no longer in charge of the club. The club is now led by Mr. Ivers. Although Mr. Erickson retired, he has helped set the girls up to be strong leaders and also to continue the club.
Junior Jordan Allar said, “I think women in leadership is important because it’s a time for young women like me to collaborate with others over ideas that seem important to us.”
Women in Leadership is different than other clubs at Orono because members of the club are not only able to build relationships within the school, but also learn skills that they may carry with them for successful futures. The club has become a safe place for girls, where they are allowed to open up and share about topics they relate to.
Jordan Case said, “we find that that allows us to bond together a lot easier which leads to a tighter knit group,” while discussing the advantages of having an all girl group.
Members of the club chose to join and continue to stay a part of the club because of the impact shown by the relationships built through it. By joining the club, the girls are a part of something. They have moments that have had empowering effects on the girls. Moments have been shared complete with honesty and vulnerability.
“Women in Leadership is about serious stuff and gets your brain moving and thinking and is a really good way to understand leadership skills,” said sophomore Zuri Dunham.
Every other year, the club tries to have speakers come and talk about their successes in leadership. The speakers are usually leaders in different areas of the world or in different job fields. They have had different speakers from different fields. For example, engineering sectors as well as different businesses have come in to speak to the group. This helps prepare the girls for futures in many forms of leadership.
Case said, “that is an issue perspective we like to get that really appeals to different types of people,” while discussing the speakers different fields of work.