This week, more than a hundred high school girls from throughout the state of New York are gathering in Seneca Falls for a conference aimed at promoting female political leadership.
The leadership action conference is organized by 1st Amendment-1st Vote, a non-profit organization created in 2018 by former Auburn, Cayuga County, mayor Melina Carnicelli. She stated that she was inspired to create the group after assisting in the early 2017 gathering of thousands of women and men in Seneca Falls.
She remarked, “I was looking at the throng and all the young people and wondering, ‘How can we keep this going?'”
There will be a leadership and politics workshop for girls all throughout New York City.
New York’s twenty-three school districts engage in 1st Amendment-1st Vote, debating problems of equality in their individual schools and congregating for bigger events such as the two-day conference in Seneca Falls.
One school is Rush-Henrietta, where Catrena Brown and some of her classmates have advocated for an increase in the availability of feminine hygiene products.
“The things we receive at school are of the lowest quality and just one type, despite the fact that females have diverse needs,” she explained.
Erie, Niagara, and Chautauqua counties in western New York; Steuben and Chemung counties in the Southern Tier; Onondaga, Seneca, and Cayuga counties in central New York; and Albany County in the east all have active student clubs.
The girls in Seneca Falls listened to recorded remarks from Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand and Gov. Kathy Hochul and will participate in seminars and panel discussions on the nuts and bolts of political participation, from campaigning to successful government.
The importance of the village of Seneca Falls was emphasized extensively. “You are following in the footsteps of women who shook the globe,” former village mayor Diana Smith said in her opening comments.
Kamellia Barrett, a senior at Shaker High School in the vicinity of Albany, aspires to become a journalist or educator who focuses on gender and racial equality. She recently attended an event hosted by the 1st Amendment-1st Vote club at her school, where she met Hochul and presented a Maya Angelou poem before a huge crowd.
“There were so many women in the room; it was a very inspiring experience,” she remarked.
Margo Smith, a teacher and club supervisor at Rush-Henrietta, has already observed its impact on the participating girls.
“Kids are able to recognize these gender gaps, and they understand that when they discover difficulties, they must advocate for themselves,” she explained. “If you don’t, you’re not going to get it done.”
