Students Celebrate International Women’s Day at Third Annual EmpowHERed Leaders’ Summit

In celebration of International Women’s Day, the MCPS Department of Student Leadership and Activities and MoCo EmpowHER hosted the third annual EmpowHERed Leaders’ Summit on March 6.

The event brought together 160 students at The Universities at Shady Grove for a day of networking and leadership development where student leaders across fields such as business, literature and activism shared their unique paths to success. For many participants, the summit may have marked their first time stepping onto a college campus.

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Featured student presenters included:

• Club Maya (Montgomery Blair High School): Evelin Camacho Romero, Aide Vail Lopez, Kimberly Lucas Tirado and Madellyn Ramirez Perez, who lead efforts to celebrate Mayan culture.
• Isis Idiokitas (Silver Spring International Middle School): Owner of the small business Tu Snaps.
• Saanvi Purohit (Richard Montgomery High School): Singer and songwriter.
• Stephanie Rinelli (Sherwood High School): Entrepreneur and owner of Sweetz by Steph.
• Amanda Santiago (John F. Kennedy High School): Editor of The Sword and National Student Production Award winner from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS).

Beyond the workshops, attendees engaged in a service project, donating new and gently used books and creating bookmarks with empowering messages that will all be placed in a Free Little Library at an MCPS school. 

The summit was made possible by the Montgomery County Education Foundation, The Universities at Shady Grove, Kemor Contracting and several community donors.

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