Twenty local middle school girls participated in "Girls Speak Out: Conference on Individuality and Group Identity," held on Nov. 17 at Hamilton College. The conference was organized by Hamilton Senior Jessica Ambrose. In 1999, as part of an Issues in Education class, she started a group at Clinton Middle School to give middle school girls a comfortable environment in which they could talk and write about issues important to them. This year she received a grant from the Women's Fund of the Community Foundation of Central New York to expand the program to other schools and Saturday's conference was an outgrowth of that.
The conference at Hamilton included girls from Donovan (Utica), Westmoreland, Waterville and New Hartford middle schools. Morning activities included an ice breaker activity with Hamilton Adventure Program Coordinator Andrew Jillings, then the girls designed their own personal coat of arms that reflected the different roles they play, such as sister, friend, athlete or artist. The afternoon session featured a talk by author Uzo Unobagha, who spoke about Individuality and Group Identity. The participants also brainstormed and devised a list of the three most important concerns for middle school girls today. Issues that came up included peer pressure, cliques, dating/boys/sexual harrassment, changing bodies and new responsibilities. Their solutions included everything from hotlines and journal writing to having college mentors.
