My name is Phoebe Kurth and I am a Senior at St. Luke’s School in New Canaan. I joined LiveGirl as a Freshman after hearing about it from one of my friends who attended the annual camp. I began volunteering at the monthly leadership summits as a High School Mentor and I knew from early on that LiveGirl was something special and that I was going to continue working with this organization. As I became more involved, I got to take on many leadership roles within LiveGirl. Starting my Sophomore year, I led an activity at the “Be Kind” leadership summit. Each girl created their own kindness bag and then wrote a handful of affirmations on slips of paper. Everyone then walked around the room and placed their affirmations in random bags. The idea of the activity is for the girls to read one of the positive messages when they need a confidence boost or even give a note to a friend, teammate, or family member to spread kindness.
Going into my Junior and Senior year, I was a team leader at Camp LiveGirl and each year led a group of 12 middle school girls. Although challenging at times, I learned how to be a role model for my campers and help them grow into their most confident and powerful self. Camp has such an inspiring and empowering atmosphere and I look forward to it every year. Finally, this year I am one of five Senior Fellows. My fellowship focus is development and fundraising, including talking to potential partners and donors.
Since I started working with LiveGirl, I have worked with a variety of girls from different towns, backgrounds, and socio economic situations. I am able to see what these girls struggle with and how they respond to different leadership experiences. In particular, this past year at camp I witnessed an incredible moment of self-growth in one of my campers. On the second day of camp, I found one of my campers, Layla, crying. When I asked her what was wrong, she replied, “I’m afraid I’ll get made fun of if I dance with the other girls.” Throughout my years at LiveGirl, I’ve learned that seven out of ten girls feel they are not good enough or do not measure up in some way. It’s that fear of putting yourself on the line, having it backfire, and being ridiculed. Girls respond to examples set by female role models; that’s the extra push needed to reach their goals. After comforting Layla and giving her words of encouragement, I asked her if she wanted to dance with me. She took my hand, and we danced together on the stage. Fast forward to the last day of camp when suddenly I heard girls chanting, “Go Layla!” I turned around, looked up at the stage, and saw her dancing by herself. At that moment, I realized how big of an impact mentorship had on Layla. She gained the confidence to do something outside her comfort zone and overrule her inner voice. I was struck with a feeling of pride seeing Layla empowered and expressing her natural self.
LiveGirl is a special community for many reasons, but something that stands out to me is that you can walk into any LiveGirl event and literally feel change happening right in front of your eyes. This organization has allowed me to practice my leadership skills such as public speaking, problem solving, organizing and advocacy. LiveGirl’s leaders have a ripple effect. I am now one of many committed to paying it forward in my own way - through kindness and positive change.
