Empowering Girls’ Voices: The President’s First 100 Days

The 2024 presidential election has created unprecedented interest, personal investment, and civic engagement among young people. What issues in the presidential agenda have inspired youth to get involved? And how can we keep our girls active and engaged after Election Day?

From February 16-19, 2025, Close Up and the International Coalition of Girls’ Schools (ICGS) will partner for parallel nationwide summits for high school students and educators in Washington, D.C., harnessing the energy of the new president’s first months in office. Empowering Girls’ Voices: The President’s First 100 Days will help girls of all backgrounds share their own policy priorities, develop empathy for the perspectives of others, and build the skills and confidence to be strong civic leaders.

Student Summit Highlights

The student summit is open to high school girls in grades 9-12 who have an interest in civic engagement and action, with a cohort of 6-10 students per school recommended. Major components include:

• Building an Inclusive Community and Staying Engaged after the Election: Students will examine the new federal agenda and consider how people can stay active after an election.
• Identifying a National Issue that Matters to You: Students will form action committees and deliberate the issues and challenges within priority issue areas.
• Developing Policy Proposals: After exploring a range of ideas and values through deliberation, students will craft statements that identify new policies to advance their agendas.
• Hearing from Experts: Students will hear from female experts in their selected policy areas to help shape and strengthen their committee goals.
• Advocating for Your Policy: After hearing from experts, students will focus on effective advocacy strategies and continue to refine their proposals.
• Summit Convention: Students will present their proposals, debate, and vote on which proposals will be included in the Empowering Girls’ Voices National Agenda for Change.
• The student summit will culminate in the Empowering Girls’ Voices Civic Action Symposium, with girls sharing selected policy proposals with a panel of female leaders and policymakers.

Educator Summit Highlights

Educators are invited to join us for a concurrent, four-day professional development summit, built on Close Up’s 50+ years of experience and focused on giving girls the skills to engage with different perspectives and lead from a place of consensus. Major components include:

• Strand 1—Current Issues in the Classroom: Educators will learn to connect current issues to longstanding political and social controversies through nonpartisan facilitation.
• Strand 2—Facilitating Deliberation: Educators will practice techniques to sustain unbiased classroom deliberation and consider the challenges and possibilities of infusing deliberation into curriculum.
• Strand 3—Effective Community Engagement: Using the Degrees of Impact framework developed by the National Network of Schools in Partnership, educators will learn to connect what students are learning in class to their desire to have a positive impact on their community.
• Strand 4—Panel Presentation: Educators will hear from influential women leaders in Washington about the challenges and opportunities that arise when leaning into challenging conversations and civil discourse in a school community.

Details, Dates & Tuition

Dates: Both summits will run from Sunday, February 16, to Wednesday, February 19, 2025.

Location: The summits will take place at a hotel in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area.

Student Eligibility: The student summit is open to all high school girls in grades 9-12 who have an interest in civic engagement and action. We anticipate most schools will bring a cohort of 6-10 girls; however, individual registrations are permitted. If you would like to offer this opportunity to a larger class or club, please reach out to us about capacity.

Student Tuition: The all-inclusive tuition is $1,550 per student. This covers all summit sessions, evening activities, meals, hotel accommodations, and daytime and nighttime supervision and security. *Optional early arrival: $325 per participant.

Educator Tuition: The tuition is $1,750 per educator. This covers all professional development sessions, some meals, and hotel accommodations. *Optional early arrival: $325 per participant.

Important Payment Dates:

• November 15: Nonrefundable $500 deposit (per student) due
• January 10: Nonrefundable final payment due