Gateway’s Girls Leadership Academy prepares students for future

Today’s teenagers may have trouble generating a whole lot of optimism about tomorrow.

A Gateway High School effort led by counselor Colleen Tortorella could help point a group of students in a positive direction.

“When kids have hope, when they see that there is a future, then they’ll work toward that,” she said. “But sometimes they need the skills to be able to do that.”

Her solution is to organize a Girls Leadership Academy, which returned to the school Feb. 20 following a similar event in 2015. Female educators presented a variety of sessions for 65 students who chose to attend rather than joining their classmates in a morning off for Presidents Day.

“I certainly had the staff support and their involvement,” Tortorella said. “My motivation to have teachers present is because that is implied mentorship. They’re able to relate the language of leadership to every session that we were doing, and then also to develop relationships.”

Tortorella, a counselor at the school for 20 years, conducted an opening session on leadership and its characteristics.

“Leadership isn’t just a position of power,” she said. “It is how they have a voice to speak up. It’s being able to advocate for yourself. It’s being authentic in how you present yourself to your peers. And kindness is a big part of this.”

Students had their choice of 16 breakout sessions in which to participate, with topics including social media wellness, postsecondary education, mindfulness and role models who are women. Others addressed ways to reduce stress and go about “breaking the cycle of trauma,” and for one of the sessions, therapy dogs from Animal Friends paid a visit.

“I wanted them to develop some skills, or at least be exposed to skills that help them find ways for self-care,” Tortorella explained.

The event wrapped up with Gateway alumnae and female school board members sharing stories “how they’ve gotten to be where they are, and how leadership plays a role in that,” she said. “I wanted to expose the girls to that connection, that there is life after high school. This is a very important time in their life, and we should not diminish the power of that.”

She noticed a good response among Girls Leadership Academy participants.

“They all came back to school the next day and they were so motivated, and they were so appreciative. And they all want to do it again,” Tortorella said. “That’s the ripple effect. When you throw a pebble in a pond, there is a ripple effect. I’m hoping that it starts something great here.”