Smith MBAs Team up to Help School Girls Unite

Second-year MBA student Tekisha Harvey, first-year MBA student Corinne Talley-Hobbs and Tiffany Grossman present on the dos and don’ts of public speaking.

Tiffany Grossman, wife of full-time second-year MBA student Robert Grossman, brought together the Smith MBA program and the nonprofit organization School Girls Unite, an advocacy group focusing on the education of girls in Africa, on Saturday, March 8, 2008 in Van Munching Hall. The day was designed to help teenage girls become more comfortable with public speaking as well as provide them with information about the organization in the hopes that they would join the cause.

The event was a great success, with both first- and second-year female MBA students performing skits, providing tips and conducting breakout sessions designed to help high school girls improve their public speaking skills, whether for classroom presentations or in their role for School Girls Unite. The lessons included how to speak to your audience, how to make a quick pitch and the dos and don’ts of speaking in front of people. The breakout sessions asked the students to practice speaking in front of each other, identify problem areas and create a skit that would help the organization reach out.

“It was a lot of fun getting to spend time with the girls and learn more about them. I was also amazed at what these high school girls were doing with this organization. I was so happy to help out,” commented second-year volunteer Liz Slobasky.

School Girls Unite was started in 2004 by Shannon Sullivan, then a middle school student in Kensington, MD. The organization is an advocacy group for girls’ education, specifically focused on Mali. In that country many girls cannot go to school for reasons ranging from the lack of feminine hygiene products to teenage marriage. School Girls Unite is currently helping to change the education habits in the country by providing scholarships to 70 girls, allowing them to attend school every day. The group also lobbies U.S. representatives and senators, asking their support of a U.N. bill that will provide education for all boys and girls by 2015.

To find out more about the organization visit http://www.schoolgirlsunite.org/

▓ Loretta Goodridge, MBA Candidate 2008, Smith Media Group