Students from Jumeirah College attend women empowerment meet in USA

The six-day conference allowed the five young women to have a closer look at different cultures and hone their leadership skills. A total of 68 students, aged 15 to 19, from the UAE, USA, Kuwait, Lebanon, Egypt, Palestine, Jordan, Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan attended the conference.

W2W is a global initiative intended to promote cross-cultural understanding, respect for diversity and critical thinking among young women. The conference is organised by Empower Peace, a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to bridging the gap between youngsters in USA and their counterparts in the Arab and Muslim world. GEMS Education was a key sponsor of the conference this year.

Martin Clark, Principal and CEO of Jumeirah College said GEMS supported the event in line with its commitment to develop its students into global leaders with a universal outlook. "Women2Women conference is an inspiring and transformational experience for young women. We are pleased that five of our high achiever students participated in the event as such exposure would empower them and make them confident leaders in future."

The Jumeirah College delegation to the conference included students from India, UK, Lebanon, Singapore and Palestine. At the conference, the students made a presentation on the UAE, which was followed by discussions on the multicultural UAE society and the ongoing development in various sectors in the country.

According to the UAE students, the conference provided participants with a platform to understand each other and interact with prominent women leaders from the media, business, entertainment and government. It also helped participants to develop their professional and leadership skills, said the students.

"The Women2Women conference gave me a unique opportunity to meet people from different cultures and share experiences. We were able to listen to inspiring speakers including senators. I am also glad that students from other countries were impressed with our presentation about the UAE society,"

said Natalia El Hage, a 17-year old student of Jumeirah College.

"The multicultural interaction prompted by this conference has increased my awareness on many aspects including peace and the emotional and moral similarities between young women," added 17-year old student, Akanksha Singh.

Jumeirah College is now planning to launch a series of exchange programmes with several local schools in the country, as part of sharing the lessons learned from W2W with the wider student community.