Saturday morning will bring 100 girls together at the University of Incarnate Word to share their thoughts about global responsibility at the first-ever Girls Global Summit, organized by Women's Global Connection.
The program sought girls from around San Antonio to compose presentations about a global or local problem.
The WGC, established at UIW in 2001, is a San Antonio-based group whose mission is promoting the learning and leadership capacity of women locally and globally, particularly in the least advantaged regions and countries. They serve in Tanzania, Zambia, Peru, and San Antonio.
WGC Executive Director Lisa Uribe-Kozlovsky says they wanted to pull girls in to get them thinking about global citizenship.
“We went out and talked to different groups at various high schools in the San Antonio area and got various girls together in groups that we call cohorts to make presentations on Saturday morning about an issue that they chose. And they’ll present the local perspective and the global perspective,” she says.
Uribe says the girls were quick to choose their topics, and many were concerned about topical issues such as human trafficking. She says girls today also are concerned about some age-old issues such as women’s equality, here and globally.
“Very much so, yes. I think it’s the idea of having equal access to education and the cultural access to it and the freedoms that go with that,” she says.
The conference starts at 9:00 a.m. on Saturday, April 6 at the University of the Incarnate Word. A workshop is scheduled in the afternoon to allow girls to participate in discussion groups with local business leaders. Uribe says this is the first of annual events to challenge young women to strengthen the world through their unique perspectives.
