|
The 8th annual Young Women’s Conference My Journey, My Voice: Empowering Young Women took place December 1, 2011 at the Crowne Plaza, Monroe Township.
The conference, targeted towards Middlesex County high school female students, is sponsored by the NCADD of Middlesex County, Inc. and the Coalition for Healthy Communities with funding from a Drug-Free Communities Support Program grant of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration and the Middlesex County Municipal Alliance Network. Event exhibitors included: Al-Anon; Barnabas Health Institute for Prevention; Central Jersey Family Health Consortium; Family Success Center; Girl Scouts of Central & Southern NJ; Lonnie Allgood’s Dreams for Kids; Middlesex County Cancer Coalition; Middlesex County Office of Public Health; Middlesex County Rape Crisis Center; NCADD; NJ Coalition for Prevention of Developmental Disabilities; Param Healthcare; Princeton House Behavioral Health, and
St. Peter’s University Hospital Community Mobile Health
17 Middlesex County high schools and 148 young women participated at this year’s event.The Conference hosted seven diverse workshops where girls were able to interactively participate with workshop presenters and peers, thus impacting knowledge in the school environments as well.Student workshops included:
- Ready, Set, Goal!
- BFF’s: Me, You, & Everybody Else
- Me, Myself, and Identify
- What’s Your Self Image?
- The Culture of Drugs
- Chillax - Stress Management
- Gossip Girl is 16...and Pregnant
For more information about the workshops, please click here.
Not only did students gain knowledgeable information about themselves, they also gained valuable resources to share with their peers who were unable to attend the event. The conference ended with a motivational speech presented by former NFL player Lonnie Allgood, regarding self-determination and self-worth to empower oneself. Lastly, conference bags were distributed to all participating students with gifts donated by Coalition member agencies.
Pictured to the left are (top) former NFL player Lonnie Allgood who addressed Conference attendees and some of the record-setting number of exhibitors who shared information and resources with the young women in attendance.
|
