The GirlBoss summit definitely taught us that we should never be afraid to be hopeful, aim high and follow our dreams, regardless of what the rest of the world tells us we can do.

On Thursday 30 July, more than 70 female students from six local high schools attended the South Canterbury GirlBoss Summit - with the hope of being inspired to be confident and to always aim high.

I was fortunate enough to join ten other Roncalli students in attending the South Canterbury GirlBoss Summit. This workshop was a partnership between the Ministry of Education and Venture Timaru (as a part of their ‘My Next Move’ programme). The summit was lead by GirlBoss New Zealand’s founder, Alexia Hilbertidou, and focused on providing us with the skills and confidence to aim high and strive for our dream careers.

Alexia Hilbertidou founded GirlBoss New Zealand in late 2015 as a result of her own experiences growing up. She was the only girl in her digital technology class at age 16, and at age 17, she was the only girl studying advanced physics. She started GirlBoss with the sole mission of “closing the gender in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Maths), Entrepreneurship and leadership”. Today, GirlBoss is a network with over 10,500 high school aged members around the country. With programmes implemented in 55 schools across New Zealand, Australia and the Cook Islands. GirlBoss strives to “empower confident, resilient, future-ready, young women to lead and change the world.”

The Timaru Summit focused on enabling us to build confidence, develop our own brands, learn essential interview skills and connect with others through networking. We spent the day working on communication, networking, and interacting with others through a range of different activities. During the day, there were many times where tasks pushed us out of our comfort zones. The summit also allowed us to learn from some of the 15 local successful female mentors who were present. Over the course of the day, we discovered a lot, not only about potential future careers, but also about ourselves. Alexis taught us that we should always be the most hopeful, confident and optimistic version of ourselves.

Alexia mentioned that some of the most influential words that have stuck with her were spoken by celebrity chef Jamie Oliver, upon meeting him back in 2018. “Never be afraid to be the most hopeful person in the room.” The GirlBoss summit definitely taught us that we should never be afraid to be hopeful, aim high and follow our dreams, regardless of what the rest of the world tells us we can do.

It was a fantastic experience, and I would recommend that if you are given the chance to attend a GirlBoss Summit, embrace the opportunity. On behalf of the other 10 senior students, I would like to thank Lou Heenan for her work in organising the day. Without her support, we would not have had the chance to attend South Canterbury’s first GirlBoss Summit.