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By Jennifer Uribe, Respect Rx Program Assistant

Overall, the crazy week we all went through at the Democratic National Convention was completely worth it for each and every one of us at Respect Rx, Jennifer Davidson, our partner at Reality Check Coaching, who co-facilitated with Court, and the film crew from Girls Rock! Productions. We partnered with the Girl Scouts of Colorado to deliver "Your Inner Leader" sessions for around 30 high school and college girls who attended the council's Building Leadership, Teaching Democracy Week. The girls were there to learn about the political process and their leadership power (even though we were observing the DNC, the Girl Scouts is non-partisan).

Personally, I could not have been more excited to be there, being 19 years old and having this election be my first I could fully participate in! I was hungry for politics, to learn everything I could and be able to connect with people who share my opinions in politics.

The girls started out by knowing little to almost nothing about one another. And by the end of the week there were so many tears and new friendships that were created which will always be remembered! One thing for sure is that spending my week with this great group of girls has changed me for the better. I came out feeling extremely inspired to go out and try to accomplish at least half of what all these brilliant young women have already completed.

Here's what went down during the week:

SUNDAY
While the girls were spending their time at the Molly Brown House, Davidson and I were unpacking and getting our materials ready for the rest of the week. Later that evening we met up with the girls at the Girl Scouts of Colorado’s main offices where we had a quick tour of the place. There, we got to see a neat performance by an Eleanor Roosevelt history presenter. It was as if she was the real thing right there in front of us! The thing that really stuck with me was that she said: “It is only through curiosity that you can learn.” I have always been a rather curious girl, myself. She also brought up a great point that will always help me when I am working with others. She asked “how do you arouse curiosity in others?” meaning that people must work to interest others in their passions. After that, dinner came and we all went to a Chinese restaurant where we had our first interaction with the girls. Our table was rambunctious because our girls were full of laughter and made jokes at every opportunity they got, it was fun! To close the night, Courtney and Davidson directed one of the best closing circles I have been in where everybody participated—adults and girls alike. Each person stated their stake and we joined hands to lock it in. My stake was: “To be able to affect every single person I meet in a positive way.”

MONDAY
After running up and down to get everything set-up correctly in the room, we finally had the girls coming in, a bit tired but ready for the next event of the day. I got to take pictures of the girls as they went through the “Take A Walk” activity and realized that everything girls go through—positive and negative—has a chain reaction effect. Then we shared ways we'd been disrespected and how it motivates us to make a big change in our world. It was such a powerful experience for me to witness. It was awesome to see how the girls all supported one another and really loved each other and were empowered by the activity. They named themselves the Lionesses! And in our closing circle each yelled “rawr!!” really fiercely.

TUESDAY
Our day started off with a presentation by Laurie A. Westley, Girl Scouts of the USA Senior Vice President, Public Policy, Advocacy & the Research Institute, talking about Advocacy programs and how girls can get involve around their communities and start their own programs. The girls also had a passionate discussion about public protest in response to Code Pink's protest the day before at the Unconventional Women Conference (which rocked!). Then came the inspirational speech by Hilary Clinton we were all waiting for. My favorite part of her speech was when she quoted Harriet Tubman:

If you hear dogs, keep going. If you see torches in the woods, just keep going. If they shout at you, keep going. Don’t ever stop, just keep going.

This is like our motto at Respect Rx: Keep going! Many girls thought Hillary Clinton “played it like she won” and stood in her power.

WEDNESDAY
Our kick-off activity of the day was “Discover Your Inner leader” and we began by defining the stereotypes of an “old” leader. The girls had a blast because at the end they got to run through the big poster they had created to bust through the old leadership model. After discussing the main issues they are all concerned with in small groups, they got to present their issues and solutions to the problems which were all very impressive! While in the middle of our activity, somebody came in the room and let us know Michelle Obama was in the Convention Center and about to speak in the Latino Caucus! We all gathered our stuff and literally ran to go hear her speak, which was totally worth it. What really caught me off guard was hearing Mrs. Obama say “Si Se Puede” in such a natural accent. She was incredibly inspirational, was clear about her stake and the issues she cared about. We were all so thankful to have been able to experience and learn from her leadership style—no matter what political party we belonged to.

Later on that evening after having dinner at the Hard Rock Café, we headed to The White House Project 10 Year Anniversary Party. We got to meet one of our idols, Marie C. Wilson, founder of The White House Project and Take Our Daughters To Work Day. All the girls looked great and we all participated with different activities. I worked with Katie, who was our roaming journalist for the week, by filming her while she was interviewing a few politicians who were participating in the event. It was interesting to hear that all these powerful and successful women had been at one point in their lives a part of the Girls Scouts.

THURSDAY
This was our last day with the girls and we wanted to make the best of it so we tried hanging out with them as much as we could. We did our last activity with them which was to finalize their issues and solutions so that they could create their official Platform. The girls got to present one more time, and we all had dinner anxiously waiting for the acceptance speech by Sen. Barack Obama. After the speech, there was a quick debrief with Professor Jennifer Barber and the girls got right back into end of our workshop. We had a short and sweet closing ceremony with acknowledgments to each other and our Inner Leader qualities. I will never forget what one girl said to me: “You always had a smile on your face and brought in a good energy.”

I felt totally complete when she said that because it was exactly what I said my stake would be!

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