What Makes A Voter Girl?
I vividly remember marching into the school nurses’ office. I was in 6th grade and a little nervous.
My mission? Host a girls’ only program focusing on what happens to girls’ bodies when we reach puberty. I was sick to death of the snickers of boys, and yes, the male teacher in my class when a girl “had an accident.” The nurse heartily welcomed the suggestion, and a new tradition began at my school. The main takeaways for me were that I had a voice, I could use it to speak up when I saw a need and change could happen. That was a heady lesson for a 12-year-old girl!
Girl Scouts had a similar effect on me. Leaders invested their time and expertise in young women. They cast a vision of the leaders we could become. We did more than sell cookies. We learned about taking care of the environment, working with other girls to accomplish things that were too big for one girl to accomplish. We built community.
In April, members of the LWVJoCo, KCMO, Topeka, and Lawrence Leagues, in collaboration with the Girl Scouts of Northeast Kansas and Northwest Missouri, are hosting Voter Girl! What could possibly be more important than teaching young women about the power of the vote while enabling them to earn citizenship badges? This is an opportunity for all involved to follow in the footsteps of other women who have been helped up the ladder and invest in those climbing the rungs behind us. Thank you, Marie Hernandez and Debbie Kitchin, Voter Information Champions, for mentoring future League members and community leaders and launching Voter Girl here!
All of those years ago, the school nurse could have blown me off and, perhaps, squelched my confidence to speak up for what I believe. But she didn’t and look at me now! Mary Lou Jaramillo, I’m so grateful for the time you invested in me to prepare me to be nominated for president and for your leadership of an outstanding Nominating Committee that brought us an excellent slate of new leaders! I salute the members of the LWVJoCo Wisdom Circle who have fought the good fight and represented our League for 50+ years – don’t you think they deserve a medal? And Amber Stenger, you encouraged me to take a leap of faith.
I call on each and every member to help this board build a membership that more closely reflects the demographics of Johnson and Wyandotte counties. I challenge every one of you to reach out to communities who encounter barriers to voting and offer to stand with them. Let this League be an inspiration to Girl Scouts, High School Students and Community Colleges as we work with them to register to vote and cast their ballot.
We are in for a remarkable year!
Thank you.
Janet |