BOONE, Iowa — Hip Hope Inc. held its first Many Shades of Colour Young Women’s Conference Lead-Her-Ship retreat Friday through Sunday at The Y Camp in Boone. The goal? To help educate and inspire young girls of color to become comfortable stepping into leadership roles in their communities.
After three days full of team building activities and group brainstorms, campgoer Naomi Thames said she learned a lot of valuable lessons.
"I learned that it takes people to be a leader," Thames said. "You can lead yourself, but it takes people around you to really be a leader. If you're just leading yourself, you're not helping anyone else."
Thames believes these lessons will stick with her as she embarks on her own leadership journey in her community. She now feels ready to make her voice heard.
"It's okay to be quiet, but I feel like you can't really help anyone if you're doing that," she said.
Each day, the girls were challenged to handle complex situations with group members they'd never worked with before.
After the challenge was complete, they were asked to reflect on these tasks with a five-minute journaling session and large group discussions.
13-year-old Victoria Williams said those challenges were what she enjoyed most about the retreat.
"My favorite part was the teamwork activities that wed id, like the low ropes, because it really forced us to all come together as a group," Victoria said.
Victoria's mother, Katrina Williams, said knowing her daughter attended a retreat that helps young women of color find their way to leadership roles is life changing, as she wishes there was camp like this for her when she was growing up.
"Marian Wright Edelman said you can't be who you don't see," Katrina said. "So in that room were girls that look like each other, empowering . . .synergistic collaboration. Everybody was together, they were doing what needs to be done to prepare our future."