(Jennifer Scott/Tyler Morning Telegraph)

The Junior League of Tyler hosted its annual Girl Power Summit on Saturday at the W.T. Brookshire Conference Center, inviting all sixth-grade girls in the area to participate and learn about empowerment.

Focused on fundraising and philanthropy, the Junior League of Tyler is a nonprofit organization that serves over 25 community partners, including Habitat for Humanity of Smith County and the Smith County Children’s Advocacy Center. The Girl Power Summit, an event the organization started 15 years ago, aims to support young girls during a pivotal time in their lives.

“We started this event with the idea that sixth grade is a really hard year,” said committee chair Stephanie Simmons. “It’s a lot of transitions as you are moving from elementary to middle school, and we all know that middle school is hard to start. So, we wanted to spend a day really empowering sixth grade girls and giving them the tools that they need to be women in today’s day and age.”

This year’s theme was “Unleash Your Inner Girl,” with a focus on mental health, resilience, leadership, and exposing the girls to different career fields and educational paths.

Simmons emphasized the importance of equipping young girls with the confidence and skills they need to navigate challenges.

“We really focused this year on talking to them about resilience and leadership, helping them have the tools that they need to withstand stress, withstand different challenges, and then also equip them with different ideas of what their future might be able to look like,” she said.

The free event featured nearly 300 sixth-grade girls from 17 different school districts, including Tyler, Henderson, Whitehouse, Bullard, Longview and more. Throughout the day, they participated in activities designed to encourage empowerment, teamwork, and career exploration. Many of the young attendees expressed excitement about the opportunity to grow and learn in a supportive environment.

“It’s important for girls to learn about being yourself more and not hide it from anybody,” said Madison Gray of Holloway Middle School at Whitehouse ISD.

Kinsey Kates, also of Holloway Middle School, emphasized the importance of self-worth. “Girls should know more about how important they are and how they should be known in the world,” she added.

Another key component of the summit was fostering a supportive environment among the girls. Emerson Keen of Holloway Middle School highlighted the importance of unity, stating, “We need to have each other’s backs.”

In addition to discussions on empowerment, the girls engaged in hands-on activities such as Zumba and a community service project benefiting the Child Advocacy Center and East Texas Crisis Center.

“They made and decorated hygiene bags for them, and the girls are going to learn about a variety of different careers and different educational paths,” Simmons said.

The summit featured at least 40 women from the community, representing a diverse range of businesses and organizations. Some of the participating groups included Pfizer, Tyler ISD, Christus Health, UT Tyler, and 4Kids4Families. Many of the girls were eager to explore career possibilities and hear firsthand from professionals in various fields.

“It’s really fun,” said Sterling Lepsis of Holloway Middle School. “More girls should come because you get to learn about different careers.”

Christine Raney, of Pfizer, one of the event’s speakers, shared her experiences working in clinical development, overseeing the phases of clinical trials before medications come to market. She was grateful for the chance to highlight careers in STEM fields.

“I just think it’s neat to show these girls that there’s all kinds of opportunities out there for them,” Raney said. “It was really a privilege to me to be able to showcase something in the STEM field, you know, and it’s not always in a lab and really showing the behind-the-scenes of things.”

She also emphasized the importance of educating young girls about the lengthy process of developing new medicines.

“They were really surprised at how long it takes for medicines for anything — from cancer to allergies — to be approved,” Raney said. “But I do hope they feel reassured about the whole process. The girls are so smart; they had so many questions.”

The keynote speaker for this year’s summit was LaCrecia Steward, an accomplished professional in the beauty industry with over 10 years of experience as a makeup artist and beauty educator.

“She spoke to them about grit and resiliency and kind of told them about some hard things that had happened in her past and how she overcame those, which is good for all these girls to hear because a lot of them are probably going through different things at home,” said Donna Rhodes, the guidance counselor for Tyler ISD’s Three Lakes Middle School.

Rhodes, who has been attending the summit for several years, appreciates how the Junior League of Tyler works hard to provide a day of empowerment for sixth grade girls. She also noted that the event helps strengthen friendships and foster new connections among participants.

“We’re on a block schedule, so a lot of the girls don’t share a single class together,” she said. “But the summit allows them to get to know each other, get to know other 6th grade girls from other schools. You see a lot of new friendships develop as a result of this.”

For more information about the Junior League of Tyler and its efforts in the community, visit www.juniorleagueoftyler.org.