That path to success often starts with a dream, like the one belonging to 14 year old Chardonay Coates. “When I graduate high school I really want to go to college or go into the Army,” says Coates.
She’s one of about 70 girls from Monterey, Santa Cruz and San Benito Counties taking part in a one day conference called Dream It, Be It. This new program was created by the volunteer organization Soroptimist International to help girls figure out how to live their dreams.
The event took place Wednesday on the campus of Cal State Monterey Bay, and was organized by Girls Inc. of the Central Coast and four local Soroptimist Clubs: Capitola, Carmel Bay, Salinas and Watsonville.
“So we do have five women oriented groups together to help these young women visualize where they could be in ten years and to give them tools and experiences that will help them be able to own that for themselves as they go through life,” says Dianne Driessen of Soroptimist Carmel Bay .
The conference includes session on discovering your dreams, achievable goals and rising above obstacles. Throughout the event, the girls meet local professionals including a research librarian, software engineer and even an Olympic marathoner. Driessen, a retired executive, says they’re asked to share their true stories to success including the failures and obstacles.
“Some of the obstacles were about trying to balance a career and family. So I actually worked part time while my kids were young, and it definitely impacted my earning ability, and my ability to advance. The other obstacle is in some organizations it’s still a man’s management club,” says Driessen.
The idea is without understanding someone’s obstacles, success can look like an easy path. Take Patty Fernandez. Her success belies her life's challenges. She has her master’s degree and a job as Executive Director of the non-profit Girls Inc. of the Central Coast which recruited the girls for this conference. She says this is something she wished she had growing up.
“I didn’t have mentors. I had to figure it out all by myself,” says Fernandez. And when she figured out that she wanted to go to college, she says her parents were the obstacle.
“They’re migrant field workers, and so their biggest dream was for me was to work at a store, out of the fields. And for me it’s like, no I don’t want to do that. You know I really want to go off to college, and I really wanted to have a career,” says Fernandez.
She ended up blazing the trail for her three younger sisters who also went to college. It’s these stories that give the girls something to hang onto as they move forward in pursuit of their dreams.
“My motto is like don’t give up, always think positive, and that’s why I came here,” says 13 year old Brisa Diaz, a Dream It, Be It participant.
They’re are also leaving the conference with contact information of the local professionals who will remain available to these teens as a resource.
This one day conference is part of a week long Girls Inc. of the Central Coast summer camp called Smart Choices where the girls are living on the CSUMB campus and also taking workshops about peer pressure, healthy eating habits and what it takes to get into college.