This morning I went to St. Elizabeth's Catholic Academy to lead a press conference announcing a new and exciting initiative in which I will be taking part. Ladies and gentlemen, say hello to a program that is fueling the intellectual renaissance.
Say hello to Project Empower.
Project Empower is an education revitalization initiative that provides schools with free hands-on learning in leadership, community service, business and relationship skills. Through our four integrated programs and partnerships with top university and corporations, we expose students to world class leadership and skill development. The goal is to enhance classroom learning while preparing students for success in the real world.
Our Project Empower team is entirely comprised of young minds from the business and university world. I am beyond honored to have been appointed by my teammates as Executive Director for IMPACT!, one of the programs four primary branches, as well as Co-Head of Communications for the organization as a whole!
As a state representative for the Miss America Organization, I share in the responsibility to spread the message of educational empowerment, civic involvement, and youth leadership. I am thrilled to introduce a program that allows students of all ages to develop the skills that are fundamental to the Miss America program.
We were joined today by the students and staff as well as Bishop Frank Caggiano, Alan Fields (Executive Director of After School All Stars), as well as many principals and staff members from area schools.
St. Elizabeth's Academy has been selected as the pilot school for Project Empower because of their commitment to excellence in academics. We will be starting up programs in schools throughout New York City throughout the fall and hope to have partnerships in additional states by mid winter. Over time we plan to take our model internationally. We already have schools in Africa that have expressed interest.
Our primary programs within Empower include:
- BOSS, which prepares middle and high school students to be career ready through interactive business competitions, career-path exposure and active mentoring;
- OUTREACH, which facilitates civic engagement of middle and high school students through interactive nonprofit competitions, exposure to charitable causes and active mentoring;
- IMPACT, which will prepare young adults to be leaders in the non-profit word through board/committee placement, social entrepreneurship and other management activities;
- LifeLaunch, our interactive Internet-based life and career simulation games designed to promote passion and awareness of career opportunities and real-world knowledge at a young age, and;
- MERIT, which will provide scholarships to students who have demonstrated excellence in both academic and leadership achievements in Project Empower programs.
As part of today's activity, students did an OUTREACH style workshop with me to design an anti-bullying campaign for their school.
In teams, students designed a poster with a slogan and three ways students can be leaders. The results were astounding. It became clear at this point that by putting the students in charge we succeeded in engaging them beyond anything the staff had seen them do previously. In fact, Principal Ferguson has agreed to implement the campaigns within the school and make them the official stance of St. Elizabeth's.
This program is going to help fight bullying in a unique way. By empowering students to understand and appreciate success both in themselves and their peers while giving them goals and ideas for their future, we are giving them power and therefore reducing their need to seek it through negative behavior. This is about realizing the value in every individual. This project and the teamwork it inspired was a fine testament to this, and the students were all smiles.
We are Project Empower. We are exposing students to community and civic involvement, instilling skills and knowledge relevant to achieving meaningful success in the real world, exposing students to increasingly complex business concepts as well as the idea of non-profit engagement and the ease with which one can impact their community. We can give them the tools to create a stronger future, not only for themselves but for the world in which they live.
Because the job of Miss New York is to be a leader, and every single child has that power within them. All they need is to discover and harness it, and I am thrilled to introduce an incredible tool that will allow them to do so.
To learn more about project empower or request our programs for your school, visit www.proempower.org
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