SISSONVILLE, W.Va. — Some Kanawha County middle school students are feeling more confident to become whatever they want to be when they grow up.
Sissonville Middle School fifth grader Ivy said it was inspiring to hear from U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito during her Girls Rise Up event at her school Monday morning.
“It was great. I usually don’t speak up for myself and I feel a lot more confident,” Ivy said.
Ivy was one of a number of fifth grade girls at Sissonville to participate in Capito’s event where the senator was joined by state Supreme Court Chief Justice Beth Walker and Justice Haley Bunn.
Walker and Bunn wore their judicial robes and spoke with the girls about the importance of getting a good education, having confidence to chase your dreams and to take care of their overall health and well-being.
“Once we started talking with them and asking for their input on some of the things we were discussing, they really brightened up. It just told me that at particularly at this age and even younger children, they just need a little attention,” Walker said.
Capito (R-W.Va.) has been hosting Girls Rise Up challenge events since 2015. She said it’s important to talk and relate to young girls.
“If they don’t see you, they can’t be you. I think a lot of times it’s a mystery what we do or how we act. We’re just regular people,” she said.
Capito has made it a point to inspire the next generation of female leaders as the first female U.S. senator from West Virginia.
The Rise Up discussions often bring out a lot of similarities between the girls, Capito said. That’s what happened Monday when Capito, Walker and Bunn started reflecting on what it was like to be in the fifth grade.
“They realize they have a lot more in common with their classmates than they really think and a lot in common with us. We talked about I didn’t like to speak up in class. Justice Walker talked about how she was too tall. Justice Bunn talked about her accent. We all have issues and we just taught them to be themselves,” Capito said.
Bunn said her message to the girls was that it’s okay to fail to get to where you want to go in life.
“We love showing the young girls that we are real people who have been in fifth grade before who understand that you don’t just start off with all the confidence and knowledge in the world. It takes some failure, some try again and some get up and go to really get to a place of leadership,” Bunn said.
Walker echoed that and said girls can become anything they want if they set their mind to it.
“I think sometimes we see folks in positions like ours and sometimes it’s easy to say ‘they must’ve just been born that way.’ These are all learnable skills,” Walker said.
Not only do teachers need to be supportive, Bunn said these conversations also need to take place at home among parents and family members.
“I think getting that connection and keeping that connection and being present in their every day lives, knowing that they have a support system no matter what goes on, I think will set them up for success later on,” she said.
Capito has previously involved other female leaders, both local and national, for Girls Rise Up challenges including Congresswoman Carol Miller (R-W.Va.), Huntington Fire Chief Jan Rader, former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley, members of the West Virginia University Gymnastics Team and others.