Senator Snowe Hosts Women’s Leadership Forum for Maine Students
BANGOR, ME – On Thursday, September 28 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 555 young women from 37 high schools across Maine’s 16 counties. More than 200 trained volunteer mentors—who help deliver the program to the students over three years—and more than 30 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 curriculum themes of “My Values” (10th grade), “My Voice” (11th grade), and “My Vision” (12th grade).
“I started this organization to empower young Maine women and create opportunities for each of you to become the kind of leaders you want to be. You are the future, and I’m confident that, with the skills you’re going to develop in this program, you will go on to achieve limitless success—making our communities, state, and country a much better place along the way.”
– The Honorable Olympia J. Snowe, in her remarks to Olympia’s Leaders
Data from the 2022-23 school year indicates that Olympia’s Leaders believe the program has best helped them understand their own values, strengths, and passions (97%), improve their confidence (96%), become stronger leaders (96%), be more willing to tackle challenges (95%), recognize the importance of community contribution (95%), and build their communication skills (95%).
To date, more than 725 Olympia’s Leaders have graduated from the Institute. Ninety-three 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, Thornton Academy, Westbrook, and Winslow High Schools.
