“We have to speak life into ourselves,” Mary Outley said.
The Akron Public Schools’ superintendent asked the girls and young women in the room to stand up and repeat positive acknowledgements of their own value as they looked at themselves in a compact mirror.
“Sometimes you forget you’re beautiful, so this is your reminder.”
The compact mirror, which was imprinted with the phrase, was a gift to each of the more than 100 young women ages 13-24 and their family members gathered for the first Female Youth Symposium: Comfortable in Your Skin.
Hosted at John R. Buchtel Community Learning Center on Saturday, the four-hour event was part of Akron’s Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Weekend of Power, Love and Justice, in its third consecutive year.
The three days of planned events honor the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. by centering youth leadership, service and community empowerment.
“The Power of Infinite Hope: Comfortable in Your Skin” Female Youth Symposium kicked off with four keynote speakers: U.S. Rep. Emilia Sykes (OH-13), Pastor Lesa Lavender of The Remedy Church, Outley and paralegal and freelance journalist Shayla Davis as well as a spoken word performance from poet Xposyur.
Their speeches included themes of infinite hope, self confidence and overcoming obstacles.
A co-ed youth symposium was previously held during the holiday weekend, but this year the committee held separate events for young men and women. Dreama Whitfield, lead member of the Love, Power and Justice planning subcommittee, organized the event for young women.
Breakout sessions dig into topics of health and well being
Destiny Slater, one of the young women who attended the symposium, said she found Outley’s message of the importance of affirmations very meaningful.
Hearing them talk about struggles they’ve faced and acknowledging that it wasn’t easy made it feel more authentic, said 15-year-old Kristiona Johnson-Scott.
After the keynote speakers, the girls and young women were placed into smaller groups for breakout sessions. They moved between classrooms for discussions of college and career pathways, healthy dating and relationships, hygiene and skin care, mental health and their overall well-being.
Slater and her twin sister, Diamond Slater, participated in the “certified for healthy dating” activity.
Wearing a pink safety vest, Diamond read aloud a scenario from a strip of paper: Sierra tells her girlfriend she needs space for the weekend. Her girlfriend says, “If you leave me, I’ll kill myself.” Sierra stays and feels like she’s responsible for her girlfriend’s emotions.
Diamond had to decide if the behavior in the scenario was a red, yellow or green flag based on the safety level. She held up a red flag, correctly guessing the answer, and advanced to the next stage of the activity.
A facilitator then read the correct answer aloud and explained why the scenario was given its color.
The two sisters — who attended with their two other sisters — enjoyed the event.
“[I liked] everything, I just like going to things like this,” Diamond Slater said.
‘It taught me more about myself’
Nykai Alexander, 15, said the symposium had been a good experience so far. “It taught me more about myself,” she said.
In another room, a group stood in a circle and tossed around a beach ball — whoever caught it answered a question written on the outside of the ball, then a facilitator talked more about the topic. One question asked how sleep affects your mood and emotions.
Down the hall, another group discussed careers, with each attendee sharing their ideal job path.
Bria Turner, 15, said she wants to be an entrepreneur, but she also wants to see all of her options and hear about others’ careers.
Turner has had her own business, a fashion brand called Fashioned by Faith, since eighth grade. She attends pop-up shops like the one for young entrepreneurs that was hosted by the Akron NAACP during Kwanzaa at Bounce Innovation Hub. That’s also where she heard about the Female Youth Symposium.
Participants also assembled quilt squares for a collaborative quilt project led by the Akron Black Artist Guild. Dara Harper, president of the guild, said the project is inspired by the improvisational quilts created by women of Gee’s Bend, Alabama.
Harper will sew the squares together and the quilt will be displayed in the courtroom of Summit County Court of Common Pleas Judge Jennifer Towell in February.
After the breakout sessions, attendees gathered together again for a reflection circle with Project Ujima and line dancing to end the day.
