This summer, our Pangea team rose to the challenge of redesigning our Young Women’s Leadership Challenge (YWLC) Conference curriculum to serve our next generation of youth leaders via an online platform. With an incredible team of 19 interns and 41 participants, it once again became clear that we truly have a special program on our hands and that our network of youth leaders will always stand together – even during times of protests, pandemics, and global crises.

Our post-conference survey results show that our choice to take the conference online did not dilute or water down the impact of our curriculum. In fact, our new online format turned out to be an upgrade to our program, which has empowered high school-aged girls to blossom into ambitious female leaders since 2012! According to the survey results, most beloved aspect of this summer’s conference was the “atmosphere” or environment that YWLC created, because they felt heard, supported, and safe enough to speak their minds and discuss challenging topics. Further, the online format created space for us to cross barriers we previously faced, allowing our 6-day YWLC conference to expand to 13 cities, as well as four states, bringing together nearly 65 women with diverse stories, experiences, and backgrounds.

We are so grateful for this opportunity to rediscover the magic of what we can create when women come together with a common purpose of uniting to learn and grow together, and to explore solutions for issues in our community.

Here are some highlights and quotes from our 2020 YWLC Online Conference:

On average, the girls were 43.65% more certain of what their leadership style was by the end of the conference.

The girls were 36.07% more likely to have a positive female role model in their career by the end of the conference.

“My time at YWLC was life-changing. Before going, I didn’t think that I had the potential to become a great leader, but now I feel more confident with myself.”

“My time at YWLC was an experience that not only opened my eyes to how I can make an impact in my community and globally, but also to how I can further appreciate my strengths and skills and how I apply them to my everyday life.”

“The most valuable thing I learned at YWLC was to truly pursue your passion and be your own leader – just because the majority of people are doing one thing, doesn’t mean you have to follow it or believe that that is the right path.”