More than 300 girls from across Maine are expected to participate in Girls Rock! events this weekend in Waterville, Augusta, Portland and Bangor.
The events, including the 13th annual Girls Unlimited! Conference today in Waterville, celebrate the voices, leadership and activism of Maine girls. The events are sponsored by Hardy Girls Healthy Women, a nonprofit in Waterville that’s dedicated to the health and well-being of girls and women.
“The weekend brings attention to the wonderful things that girls around the state are doing,” said Allison Cole, the group’s development director. “We’re initiating the future leadership of our state and fostering the idea that girls really can do anything.”
The Girls Unlimited! Conference, “Powered by Girl,” at Colby College, will feature workshops on media, health and social change presented by and for girls in grades 4 through 8.
The third annual Girls Rock! Awards ceremony will be held tonight at the Holocaust and Human Rights Center at the University of Maine at Augusta. The award winners are:
• Katie Zema, 18, a senior at South Portland High School. She will receive the Community Organizing Award for her political action and efforts to promote human rights and marriage equality.
• Katy Massey, 17, a senior at Waterville High School. She will receive the Title IX Award for her distinguished play on the boys’ varsity ice hockey team at her school.
• Eleanor Fisk, 14, a resident of Crawford and a sophomore at Calais High School. She will receive the Entrepreneurship Award for starting a company that sells her homemade scarves and buys children’s books for domestic-violence shelters.
• Alicia Fournier, 12, a fifth-grader at Wentworth Intermediate School in Scarborough. She will receive the Against the Odds Award for raising $20,000 to find a cure for epilepsy, which she developed as a toddler.
• Julia Brown, 16, a junior at Brunswick High School. She will receive the Health Advocacy Award for leading numerous initiatives to prevent tobacco use and substance abuse and promote physical activity and good nutrition.
• Vinitha Nair of Rockland, founder and executive director of Platform Shoes Forum and Zoey’s Room, an online community that encourages girls to enjoy and pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and math. She will receive the Co-Creator Award.
At 2 p.m. Saturday, the weekend will continue with “That Takes Ovaries!: Bold Girls, Brave Acts,” at One Longfellow Square in Portland. The performance will feature courageous stories of real-life girls and ask audience members to share their experiences. Admission is $5 for adults and free for children.
On Sunday, an open-mic event is planned at noon on the Bangor campus of the University of Maine at Augusta. Girls and women will be invited to share their creative work, poetry, music or spoken word. The free, public event will be held in Huskins Lounge at Eastport Hall.
Staff Writer Kelley Bouchard can be contacted at 791-6328 or at:
kbouchard@pressherald.com
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