On Thursday, September 29 at the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor, former United States Senator Olympia Snowe hosted more than 800 people at a Fall Forum for the Olympia Snowe Women’s Leadership Institute. The Institute’s program is designed to raise the confidence and aspirations of high school girls by helping them develop the skills required to be leaders in their lives, families, careers, and communities.
The Fall Forum is a day-long conference for 500 young women from 37 high schools across Maine’s 16 counties. More than 200 trained volunteer mentors—who deliver the program to the girls over three years—and more than 100 guests from the community attended to speak, facilitate, or participate.
The event’s objective is to gather “Olympia’s Leaders,” as student participants are called, to connect with one another, hear from and network with adult business and community leaders, and introduce the yearly themes of “My Values” (10th grade), “My Voice” (11th grade), and “My Vision” (12th grade).
“When I look out at all of you, I feel a tremendous sense of hope and pride. You are our future, and I am confident that—with knowledge of your values and strengths, appreciation for the power of your voice, commitment to using it to connect meaningfully with others and bring about positive change, and a vision for your future—you will make our communities, state, and country a much better place.”
– The Honorable Olympia J. Snowe, in her remarks to Olympia’s Leaders
Data from the 2021-22 school year indicates that Olympia’s Leaders believe the program has best helped them understand their own values, strengths, and passions (96%) as well as build appreciation of others (94%), communication skills (94%), and leadership abilities (94%).
To date, five classes, or roughly 600 Olympia’s Leaders, have graduated from the Institute. Ninety-two percent of alumni are currently pursuing or have already earned higher education degrees. The remaining eight percent chose to engage in gap year travels, specialized training programs, military service, or move directly to the workforce. Seventy-two percent of Olympia’s Leaders have stayed in Maine for post-secondary life.
Program participants include students from: Bangor, Belfast Area, Biddeford, Boothbay Region, Calais, Camden Hills Regional, Cony, Edward Little, Ellsworth, Houlton, Lawrence, Leavitt Area, Lewiston, Lincoln Academy, Lisbon, Medomak Valley, Morse, Mount Ararat, Mount Blue, Mount View, Mount Desert Island, Narraguagus Jr/Sr, Nokomis, Oak Hill, Oceanside, Oxford Hills Comprehensive, Penquis Valley, Piscataquis Community, Poland Regional, Portland, Presque Isle, Sacopee Valley, Sanford, Skowhegan Area, Spruce Mountain, Westbrook, and Winslow High Schools.