“Unite, Inspire, Lead” - Support for Military Teen Girls
Posted by Guest. Filed in Active Duty, Families, National Guard, Parents, Reserves |
In many ways, Moranda Hern and Kaylei Deakin are regular American teens. But, when these two California girls posted a video on YouTube, they showed wisdom and insight far beyond their years. Their video came as a response to www.dosomething.org, which challenges teens to use “the power of online to get teens to do good stuff offline.” (To see their video, click here)
Moranda and Kaylei, who met at a conference for young women sponsored by TV news personality Maria Shriver, decided to do something BIG: They are trying to organize the first major get-together for the children, specifically daughters, of troops who have gone to war.
As reported recently on National Public Radio’s All Things Considered, the girls are planning a conference for 400 teen girls in military families, to take place in March 2010. They have already met with Brig. Gen. Mary Kight, the Number Two commander in California’s National Guard, who says she’s determined to help them organize the event. They have booked a site for the conference, have a list of suggested speakers, and have planned late-night pajama party sessions for the girls to bond. Topics for discussion at the “Sisterhood” conference will include college applications, self-defense, making decisions and setting goals. After the conference, Hern and Deakin said, they plan to use social networking tools such as Facebook, YouTube and Twitter to maintain the bonds they expect to grow at the conference.
Their next step is finding funding for the conference. Brig. Gen. Kight and her fellow commanders are considering ways to help with this, and the girls are approaching corporations such as Google, Target, Dove and TOMS Shoes for support.
They call their conference “The Sisterhood of the Traveling BDUs” — a play on the title of a popular novel and Army lingo for battle uniforms. Their theme song: Eye of the Tiger. Their slogan? Moranda and Kaylei said “We are growing the sisterhood, with our mantra: unite, inspire, lead.”
To read a transcript of National Public Radio’s news story, click here. More information is also available here.
To listen to the story, click here.
Tags: California National Guard, children, Families, family support, Kaylei Deakin, Moranda Hern, www.dosomething.org
