Hello everyone, thank you for letting me speak here tonight. My name is Rowan Murphy, and I am a Greater Lowell Technical High School sophomore from Lowell, MA. I was invited here tonight to talk to you all about my work and the experience with the Lowell Youth Leadership Program (LYLP) and Girl’s Inc. of Greater Lowell and how both organizations have inspired and motivated me to become an agent of change.

My journey started 2 years ago when I began attending LYLP. The last thing I expected when I arrived was to leave a changed teenager, but that is exactly what happened. For 3 weeks of camp, we are taught leadership skills, technical skills, and an introduction to sports all with the goal of strengthening our relationship with ourselves, each other, and our community. It isfun, engaging, character building, and motivating. I could not wait to come back for another year. This year, a career day was added for older campers. We got to pick from a few different experiences but the second I read visiting the state house with an action plan I knew that was exactly what I wanted to do. Advocacy work is something I was interested in but didn’t have much experience with. Little did I know that the decision I made was actually the spark that lit the fuse for my future love of leadership.

After deliberating numerous topics, our LYLP group eventually settled on the topic of veteran homelessness, which happens to be an issue near and dear to my heart. The Presentation was so nerve-wracking, but I have always wanted to do something like this. As I went up to speak, I felt all the nerves fly away. I spoke with passion because it was something I was passionate about. I loved every bit of it and knew this was where I wanted to be in the future. From that experience, I was able to forge great relationships with the state representative Rodney Eliot and his legislative aide Stephane Barr. That was the day I fell in love with advocacy.

While LYLP is an incredible organization on its own, it is the relationship they have with Girls, Inc. that provided me with the opportunity to discover and expand my leadership skills. Bopha Malone of Girls Inc and Lisa Ansara of LYLP teamed up to provide me and another camper the opportunity to attend the Women 2 Women Leadership Program. It is a 10-day program for girls from all over the world attending and held in Boston every year.

The goal of the program is to empower, engage, and elevate girls and women worldwide. We were taught the importance of civic duty and volunteerism. We learned how to develop healthy self-esteem and we strengthened our leadership skills through media literacy, public speaking, and critical thinking. And best of all, I made new friendships with so many amazing, intelligent women across the globe. Women 2 Women was an incredible experience, and my goal is to take the skills I learned there and work with teenage girls in my community to address issues important to young women.

They say motivation comes from passion about embracing a new task. This is exactly the opportunity that LYLP is providing to us. The combination of activities focused on mental and physical health spark curiosity and motivate us to seek out challenges. With the skills we learn at camp, we can face these challenges with a new perspective knowing that our voices are heard and our opinions matter. Thank you to everyone at LYLP and Girls, Inc. I am so grateful to be able to speak here tonight and more grateful for the work that you do. I hope to make you proud one day!