HOULTON, Maine — The Houlton Rotary Club met for its luncheon meeting on Monday, April 23. There were many guests present because of the guest speaker, Christina McAnuff, executive director for Olympia Snowe Women’s Leadership Institute.
McAnuff was hosted by Rotarian Tracy Rockwell, who introduced the speaker. She is a graduate of Dickison University and brought 20 of experience in marketing, training and development to her position at the Institute. She lives in Cape Elizabeth with her family and has three children.
The mission of the Institute is to elevate the confidence and aspirations of high school girls. The other guests present are all involved in the program as counselors, leaders or students. Sue Pierce, a guidance counselor at Houlton Middle-High School, was joined by Jane Torres, Lori Weston Mary Jane Cleary as mentors for the high school students.
Students present were Libby Worthley, Jasmine Phillips, Lexie Crouse, Sierra Hoops, and Lizzie Dunn. Houlton Rotarians who serve as advisors are Tracy Rockwell, Torres and Weston and visiting Presque Isle Rotarians who are also involved as advisors in the Presque Isle Leadership Institute were Rachel Rice and Joy Barresi-Soucier. Another guest was hosted by Rotarian Scott White who brought his daughter Bella White for this special luncheon program.
McAnuff shared Snowe’s vision for girls in Maine. Girls are chosen who tend to hold back from raising their hands in class but have good grades and have good friends. School counselors are responsible for vetting students. Sixteen counties are involved in the Institute.
Research has shown that having a strong mentor can assist high school girls in building leadership skills. The three areas of focus are values, voice and vision. Students are selected as freshmen and follow the Institute for the remaining three years of high school. Sophomores focus on values, juniors focus on voice and seniors focus on Vision. The ability to work in a team, make decisions and to problem solve are goals for the three year opportunity. These are accomplished by learning to communicate verbally with confidence and to appropriately share opinions and listen to the opinions of others.
Other areas of growth the Institute centers on are money management, time management, goal setting, critical thinking, global thinking, accountability, communication and household management. Working together in group meetings the girls learn to problem solve and work collaboratively. These are the skills that help them to be successful in life. Leadership happens in many areas of life and studies show that 130 percent of women are more likely to assume leadership from having a caring mentor. The contact information for the Olympia Snowe Women’s Leadership Institute is www.snoweleadershipinstitite.org. The address is 1 Canal Street, Portland, Maine 04101.
