Elmont Memorial H.S. club empowers young women
'Leading Ladies' group expands virtual presence during pandemic
When the pandemic forced Elmont Memorial High School to move student activities online, the Leading Ladies, a student organization at the high school dedicated to female empowerment, held true to its values of camaraderie and strength by continuing to hold events online and expanding its online reach.
“Our mission is to empower the ladies with life skills, education and guidance that will prepare them to lead well-rounded balanced lives, in a world that does not always support women, and being the best version of themselves,” said Caron Cox, pupil personnel services chairperson at the high school and Leading Ladies leader, explaining the mission of the club.
The Leading Ladies club works to empower young women, Cox said, a goal that she said is necessary, and often unaddressed, in today’s society. “The importance of knowing who you are and knowing your worth oftentimes in young women is something that is not discussed as much as it should be,” Cox said.
Part of this mission involves organizing conferences and events for members of the club, which are centered around topics that students involved in the Leading Ladies are passionate about.
“Experts leading in their respective fields,” Cox said, attend the group’s empowerment conferences, which began in 2018, to mentor members of the club and field their questions. In the past, authors, bankers and other experts have spoken to students about a wide range of topics, such as financial literacy and leadership. The experts, said Valencia Butler, a math teacher at Elmont Memorial High School and Leading Ladies leader, share “words of wisdom and advice” with the students.
Cox said that the most recent conference, held online, expanded the club’s virtual presence. At the event, held on Zoom, students were able to interview five experts who work in different fields, including Juanita Holmes, the first Black woman to lead the Patrol Bureau of the NYPD.
The society-wide switch to online events amid the pandemic has led the Leading Ladies to create new ways of expressing their message of female empowerment. Recently, the club made an Instagram page and hosted a two-part series of podcasts focused on sexual harassment.
“We try to make sure activities are centered around self-esteem, value and assertiveness and being able to assert yourself when needed,” Cox said, stressing the need for young women to…
The leaders of the Leading Ladies club said students are proud to be part of the organization.
“They are proud of it, it enhances their level of pride to be a Leading Lady,” Cox said. “They are excited sometimes to be a part of something that’s bigger than themselves.”
Colleen Brown, a special education teacher at the high school and Leading Ladies leader, said students enjoy engaging in self-expression with their peers. “We’ve seen that there is such a great need for the kids to have this platform,” Brown said. “They look forward to coming every week, they tell their friends about it… the girls appreciate the space and platform to express themselves,” she added.
Brown said that this platform offered by Leading Ladies to students is needed nationwide for female empowerment to blossom. “There is a need for having a platform like this is on a macrolevel in a society like this where women do not have a platform to express themselves or a sisterhood to express themselves,” she said.
Butler said the close bond shared by members of the Leading Ladies allows students to express themselves deeply. “The girls are appreciative of having camaraderie among their female peers,” she said. “They get insight among themselves and can talk about thing among themselves that they may not be able to talk about at home with their parents or even sometimes some of their close friends,” Butler said.
Taking part in community service is also a key aspect of being a member of the Leading Ladies, and the importance of community service is a topic the club’s leadership stresses.
“The experiences that they get not only from seeing it but from being part of the giveback… they get to see the importance of the reach back, which is something we hope to instill in them so they too can give back to others as they move on in their life,” Cox said.
“Community service is one thing we want them to leave with,” Butler added. “They need to have a love for themselves so they can show their love to other people through community service.”
The Leading Ladies also holds collaborative events with the Men of Elmont, a male empowerment group at the high school to “enhance the male-female interactions in schools,” Cox said.
While the Leading Ladies do collaborate with the Men of Elmont, Cox said the group’s core goal is creating female empowerment. “Understanding that you have value and your value isn’t under shadowed or overshadowed by a man,” Cox said, is a major element of the group’s message.
Cox said female unity is essential to the message of the Leading Ladies. “Being able to fix someone else’s crown and not having to let the world know that you did it… it’s about sisterhood, and it’s about being able to know that you have someone you can lean on when oftentimes you can feel alone,” she explained.
Brown summarized the three key elements of the Leading Ladies: “Self-love, confidence, lifting each other up through fellowship and sisterhood.”
