NCR Peer Leaders Attend Vital Voices Awards
On March 19, 2009 Vital Voices Global Partnership gathered over 1,000 guests at the Kennedy Center to celebrate women improving our world at the 2009 Global Leadership Awards. The benefit honored courageous women leaders who have overcome poverty, human trafficking, violence against women and other forms of discrimination to promote positive change in their communities. Among the guests were four extraordinary young women- College Summit-NCR Peer Leaders Modupe Oke from Largo High School, Mariah Edwards from Flowers High School, Huda Ibrahim from Wakefield High School, and Simone Williams from Oxen Hill High School.

On March 19, 2009 Vital Voices Global Partnership gathered over 1,000 guests at the Kennedy Center to celebrate women improving our world at the 2009 Global Leadership Awards. The benefit honored courageous women leaders who have overcome poverty, human trafficking, violence against women and other forms of discrimination to promote positive change in their communities. Among the guests were four extraordinary young women- College Summit-NCR Peer Leaders Mariah Edwards from Flowers High School, Modupe Oke from Largo High School, Huda Ibrahim from Wakefield High School, and Simone Williams from Oxen Hill High School. These Peer Leaders, along with College Summit-NCR staff, were particularly honored to be seated in the Presidential Box during the event.

The international women leaders who were honored shed light on the triumph of the human spirit and highlighted the tremendous accomplishments being made by women leaders across the globe. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, who received the Global Trailblazer Award, declared the United States government's dedication to supporting women's issues, stating:

"No nation can be successful if it invests only in or listens to only half of the population. So for all of those women who aren't here tonight, who are enduring unspeakable abuse, who are laboring under unbearable burdens, who are wondering whether there is a future for themselves and their children, we pledge that we will do all we can to ensure that America is not only an example of the best values that humanity has to offer, but that we pursue every chance we can to give every woman a vital voice on behalf of herself, her family, her community and her country."

Peer Leader Mariah Edwards said of the event: "To be in the presence of so many visionaries, women, creating major life changes in their own country, making sacrifices, and reaching out to others, brings me to tears. I feel proud to have been at the 2009 Global Leadership Awards event and am so happy that those amazing women were being honored." Peer Leader Modupe Oke wrote in her blog of the event: "This program helped me to understand how important my voice is in my community. If I don't speak about what is right and what I believe, I lose the best opportunity that may help make the world a better place."

Like Mariah and Modupe, everyone present left with a new-found understanding of the challenges many women face across the globe and with an increased conviction in the power of investing in women's leadership.

Read Modupe Oke's blog entry of the Vital Voices Awards

Find out more about Vital Voices and the Awards