A dozen members of the Young Women's Empowerment Foundation's Empowered 2 Excel program celebrated their high school graduations.
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San Bernardino has young women on the move who are breaking disruptive barriers that could have prevented them from achieving graduation.
Just a short time ago, 12 seniors from Cajon, Pacific, San Gorgonio, San Bernardino and Arroyo Valley high schools were celebrated and awarded scholarships due to their resiliency and changing lifetime gears to accomplish their goals. A banquet was held to honor these precious high school students who had completed the Young Women's Empowerment Foundation's (YWE) Empowered 2 Excel program.
Some of these young ladies started the program in middle school by participating in weekly session that included cultural awareness, self-love, team building, and creating safe circles to name a few. In the spring, they also participated in a human trafficking and bullying conference to help bring awareness back to their classmates.The goals of the seven-year journey for these young ladies were to ultimately improve their individual grades and future aspirations while preparing to attend a college of their choice.
During the banquet, each young lady was given the opportunity to share their personal program experiences. Many of them held back tears as they shared the struggles that sometimes took them off track but with the support of their YWE facilitators, family, friends and teachers they are now seniors. All of the participants indicated how much they had grown socially, emotionally and academically since they became active in the program.
The ceremony's highlight ended with each young lady receiving a gift and sash from their school's administrator. One young lady will be attending Bethany College in Kansas to major in biology and the other young ladies have decided to attend college locally at San Bernardino Valley College to prepare for their careers as nurses, social workers, emergency technicians, business owners and chefs. These young women are to be commended for preparing themselves for the next level.
Congratulations to Karmen Lemus and Briyana Prevost (Pacific High); Kennedy Bates, Erica Goring, Melina Jimenez, Carizma Johnson and Phoenix Juarez (Cajon); Monica Marcela and Munoz Dominguez (SanBernardino); Abby Appel, Cazzmirr Middleton, and Elaine Osborn (San Gorgonio); and Danaisia Wilhite (Arroyo Valley).
You are making a difference and will be an inspiration to others who are considering options that are damaging to their quality of adult life instead of positive moves towards reaching their goals.
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