Some 200 students took a big step toward achieving their goals recently with Texans Can Academies’ inaugural “Walking Into Your Future” Symposium for Young Women. Held at Texans Can Academy – Pleasant Grove, the event offered resources and encouragement for the young women’s next chapters. It was meaningful for both students and the public charter high school, which offers accelerated education, individualized learning, career and technical education, and personalized graduation plans for students ages 14-21.
“Minds came together to make this event happen,” says Tina Shaw, principal of Texans Can Academy – Pleasant Grove. “Two years ago, we just started talking about this event, doing this great thing for the girls. The one thing we wanted was to empower young girls by providing educational, emotional and practical tools for success in life. And not only that, we wanted to foster a strong foundation in personal academics, money, mind, body and soul.”
Shaw adds that her students — many of whom are from underserved neighborhoods or are considered at risk for not graduating — deeply benefited from the way the community came together to help put on the workshop.
“The need was so important, and that’s how we were able to bring in Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. and also Cars for Kids,” she says of the event sponsors.
The four-hour event began with a prayer and opening remarks from Shaw as well as an AKA representative. During lunch, Rocky “Rock-T” Turner, a former professional baseball player and current radio personality on the nationally syndicated Rickey Smiley Morning Show, provided the keynote address. Throughout the day, girls had their choice of breakout sessions, often hosted by professional women in a variety of fields. Topics included the importance of spiritual grounding, mental resilience, self-esteem, college and career pathways, resume writing, entrepreneurship, community services, money management and community service. (A similar program geared toward boys is planned for May 17.)
Entrepreneurship was one of the most sought-after sessions among the participants, according to Jamie Betts, an online instructor at Texans Can Academy – Pleasant Grove and an event organizer. “The facilitator of that workshop gave each girl $20 to actually go open up a bank ,” Betts shares. The girls were able to set up those s at the onsite “Financial Literacy Bus” provided by FirstCapital Bank of Texas.
Several other businesses donated items to include in swag bags for each girl, and Cars for Kids — a Dallas-based car auction charity that s high school completion — gave each girl a backpack filled with essential hygiene items. It was just one aspect of Cars for Kids’ sponsorship commitment.
“When they came to us and said, ‘We really want to do this event for 200 girls, to really give them some hands-on resources and workshops,’ we were all in,” recalls Cheryl Sutterfield-Jones, CEO of Cars for Kids. Sutterfield-Jones sees great value in mentoring girls and says their needs may differ from boys.
“One of [the event’s breakout sessions covered] how to prepare for a career. They got to do mock interviews. They had a [session] on self-love, and that’s so important when we look at these at-risk students,” Sutterfield-Jones notes. “I think that we [need to] begin to build confidence in them and applaud them for what they’re going through to try to get that diploma and how hard that is.”
Organizers say the workshop was all about promoting persistence among the participants and instilling an openness to the world of possibilities that awaits them. “They need to know that there are a lot of different jobs and career opportunities out there,” Shaw says.
Getting to know and speaking to women in a range of professions opened the eyes of the participants, Shaw adds, and would have done the same for her. “Growing up in a single-parent home — and my family was educated — I didn’t know that I could be a lawyer. I didn’t know that I could be a doctor.”
Students affirmed that the event has the potential to impact their lives for many years to come.
“I think it’s important for girls to have access to programs like this because they will learn a lot of new things,” says 16-year-old senior Lorena Delores, who plans to continue her education at either a trade school or college. “I learned what I need to do to become a real estate agent.”
Shaw and Betts hope to make “Walking Into Your Future” an annual event and open it up to girls in the broader community, whether or not they attend Texans Can Academies schools. “I think with the demographic of students that we serve here, they need [this type of programming],” says Betts. “And as educators and women in this profession, we know what it takes to get where we are and even to be better.”