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Olivia Murphy Of Cold Spring Attends 'Take The Lead'Conference At Mount Holyoke College
Olivia Murphy, a junior at Poughkeepsie Day School and resident of Cold Spring, was one of 42 young women who participated in Mount Holyoke College's leadership program, Take the Lead, which took place September 28 to October 1. This year, 673 candidates were nominated by their counselors, teachers, religious or community leaders, and other adult mentors. The long weekend, offering young women a range of workshops and activities on leadership, focused on mentoring, diversity, and social activism.
Tapping into teenagers' desires to make a difference on such issues as violence, environmentalism, and poverty, Take the Lead helped Murphy develop an action project to address a social issue of her choice. The highly selective women's college will award $500 prizes to three completed action projects. Murphy is the daughter of Hass Murphy and Diane Botnick of Cold Spring. Her action project involves HIV/AIDS awareness among young people.
Each student was paired with a Mount Holyoke College student mentor trained at the College's Harriet L. and Paul M. Weissman Center for Leadership and the Liberal Arts. The mentors worked one-on-one with the students to develop their action project, and will continue to offer advice, feedback, and support through email for up to six months, until the project is complete.
Patricia VandenBerg, director of Take the Lead, says about the program, "Take the Lead continues Mount Holyoke's proud tradition of cultivating powerful and effective women leaders. With the challenges our world now faces, young teen leaders are needed more than ever."
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