On November 13th and 14th, the Women’s Global Leadership Forum was to be held by the University of Virginia, with former Secretary of State and former Democratic Presidential Nominee Hillary Clinton as the keynote speaker. Clinton spoke on the topic of “Women and 21st Century Democracy: The Path Forward.” Many students from C.H.S. were invited to attend the forum. These students and many more had the opportunity to hear Clinton and other significant political entities speak to an audience full of women and men of all ages and backgrounds.

Twenty-one students from C.H.S. were invited to attend the leadership forum after being nominated by various clubs and organizations at C.H.S. including Young Feminists, Young Liberals, PRISM, and the Global Citizen course. They attended two events on Monday the 13th, beginning with a speech by Senator Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia on the importance of listening in order to make change. The second event was focused on Global Women’s Health; panelists spoke about efforts to educate women about their health worldwide and prevent bias against women in research settings.

On the 14th, these nominated women in the C.H.S. community had the opportunity to hear Hillary Clinton give her keynote speech to the audience. Clinton spoke of the role that young people play in today’s world of politics, expressing the urgent need for young people to be civically engaged. Clinton also spoke about ways the U.S. can create a more truly democratic political system, without the influence outside forces, who may get in the way of an honest political system.

The C.H.S. students who had the once in a lifetime opportunity to attend the forum had positive things to say about it as a whole and recognized how important events like these are to our community and our generation. Fré Halvorson-Taylor (12) said of the event, “Events like this are important to understanding the breadth of feminism. I hope events like these can expose me and my peers to the variety of ways people everywhere interpret the meaning of ‘advancing women.’”