Women gather in Webb Hall for the 3rd annual Breaking Barriers conference on April 6th." />
Women gather in Webb Hall for the 3rd annual Breaking Barriers conference on April 6th.
The 2024 Breaking Barriers: Women In Leadership conference, held Saturday, Apr. 6 in Webb Hall, was hosted by the Associated Student Government, assisted by many volunteers. The conference began at nine in the morning with acknowledgements and opening remarks from Sophia Dawson and Makayla Hallacy, followed by a poetry piece by Zariah Perilla Best. At about nine forty five, participants did a poem activity where they filled in the blanks of an “I Am” prompt in their program. Coffee and refreshments were provided for breakfast.
At 10 AM, participants attended their choice of three concurrent breakout sessions: “How to Network and Find Mentors” by Angel Zimmerman and Mary Martha Good, “Civic Engagement and Advocacy Roles” by Sally Sanchez and Mickey Edwards, and “Building Your Safety Net: Support Systems to Balance Life” by Melissa Gerleman and Blair Falldine.
After the first breakout session, participants returned to Webb hall for keynote speaker Teri Karjala, who gave a talk called “Mastering the Mind: Unleashing Your Potential!” In which she discussed the power of positive thinking in cultivating positive outcomes in a person’s life or business. Teri believes that everything in one’s life is within their vibrational alignment, and that by thinking more positive thoughts, people can attract more success. She claims that the reticular activating system, a part of the brain stem associated with sleep and wakefulness, is what connects the conscious and unconscious mind and can be “trained” by imagining the outcome one wants to receive. During her talk she has volunteers come up to the stage for her to demonstrate how negative and positive energy can influence their resistance against her pushing their arms down as well as their ability to catch a ball.
After the talk, participants were fed an Italian lunch where they had the opportunity to connect with their peers and network with the professionals assigned to sit at their table before heading to their second breakout session. Options for the second and final concurrent breakout session included “How to Advocate for Yourself and Future Women” by Diana Kuhlman, Cynthia Fails, Hilary Barbour and Daphne Mayes, “Identifying Where You Are and Where You Want to Go” by Neelima Parasker, and “Barbie and Feminism in 50 Minutes” by Nyk Robertson, Mallory Bishop and a student panel.
“My favorite part honestly was the luncheon and having the opportunity to network with other people”, said Elementary Education major Diana Geist, “the people I sat with actually have cousins from my hometown that I have danced with at my dance studio. So just, seeing kind of the small world and how we all have connections we don’t even know about was really fun.”
Following the second breakout session, many participants left, and some stuck around for a reception in which partners and volunteers were thanked for their contributions and group photos were taken on the stage.