During late February, flyers were posted around the school and emails were sent out regarding the third annual women’s summit. This event was advertised to all students in County allowing any student to sign up and learn about women leaders in our community.
The annual women’s summit was originally just organized by active school volunteer Arlene Lewis in hopes of bringing support to young women in the school. Lewis focused on gathering only in-house speakers for the summit each year.
“I always wanted it to be in-house. I never felt like we needed an outside speaker. We don’t need to look further than the LCHS extended community to find outstanding women: students, graduates, faculty, and faculty and student family members,” Lewis said.
During these women’s summits, Lewis collects a guest speaker from our school community and invites them to speak about their stories. This year, she invited Annisa Jaghoori, mother of EL teacher Mustafa Jaghoori, to speak about her experiences as an immigrant from Afghanistan.
Jaghoori covered topics ranging from how she learned English and got her nursing license to the struggles of when the Taliban invaded Afghanistan. Lewis hopes that Jaghoori’s story can inspire women in the school while also giving them someone to relate to and connect with.
“God brought me to this path; I can do this,” Jaghoori said.
In addition to Jaghoori, Lewis, with the help of senior Daniellah Etisi, we gathered eight female students to share presentations on topics that they feel passionate about, such as women in music performance and industry, women in sports, and women as social activists.
Juniors Sofia Habibzai and Samantha Tinta made a presentation on “Women as Powerful Leaders” and were both thrilled at the opportunity to share.
“I decided to present because I believe in the empowerment of women, especially regarding leadership. There are so many women to look up to and learn from, and I wanted to share that with others to possibly learn from. If sharing this information meant I could inspire others and have them learn something new, I wanted to do anything to help make it possible,” Habibzai said.
During the second year, Etisi joined Lewis in the organization of this event as the president of the Captains United club. Captains United hosted the past two summits.
“I had a wonderful time helping organize the annual women’s summit,” Etisi said. “Captains United is always striving to spread awareness about how people’s identities and experiences shape who they are. The Woman’s Summit is just another place where we’re able to spread this message. All the wonderful women and girls who presented their experience in their prospective fields and allowed people to have better access to the resources they used are truly something the club loves to see.”
Lewis hopes to continue the women’s summit for years to come.
“I am looking forward to planning next year’s summit with a new group of students. It is my hope every year that the message of our keynote speaker and student presenters will resonate with both the male and female attendees, inspiring them to make their dreams a reality, despite any obstacles,” Lewis said.
