Students participated in hands-on exercises during the “Building Leaders for a Better Future” conference for high school students on April 10. (Photo Courtesy Massachusetts Partnerships for Youth)
WAKEFIELD — Massachusetts Partnerships for Youth (MPY) hosted an in-person conference for high school students, “Building Leaders for a Better Future,” on April 10 at Worcester Technical High School.
Over 120 students and advisors from high schools across 9 districts attended the conference.
Evren Gundez and Ivy Watts spoke with participants about leadership strategies. They guided discussions focused on developing effective leadership skills, increasing mental wellness, promoting healthy life choices and building confidence and resiliency.
The conference opened with a video message from Worcester County District Attorney Joseph Early Jr., who spoke about the importance of student leadership. He encouraged students to bring his message back to their schools and teach their peers that kindness never goes out of style.
Gundez, CEO and Co-Founder of Enjoy Life, Inc., an empowerment education organization that provides empowerment and leadership development experiences to high school teens, spoke about what it takes to be an effective leader by using the acronym LEAD (Live to your 10, Energize the room, take Action and Develop others). His activities were fun, inspirational and spirited.
Watts, a mental health empowerment speaker and founder of Ivy Watts Speaks, shared her story of the mental health struggles she experienced as an All-American student-athlete and Top 30 NCAA Woman of the Year Finalist. She spoke about the anxiety, burnout and self-doubt she dealt with despite appearing successful and confident to outsiders. She explained her healing journey and taught students hands-on self-care tools to increase mental wellness, self-love, confidence and resiliency.
Watts has shared her story with over 200,000 corporate professionals, students and coaches through keynotes, workshops and somatic coaching. Watts, who is Mental Health First Aid Certified, is also a published author and the founder of the blog, “Beautifully Simply You.”
Students reacted with great enthusiasm to the messages from the two speakers.
Executive Director Margie Daniels said, “This was a unique opportunity for students to meet and engage with students from other high schools. The speakers gave the students food for thought about how to be leaders and a positive presence in schools and communities.”
About the Massachusetts Partnerships for Youth, Inc.
Massachusetts Partnerships for Youth, Inc. is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization that provides training, fosters collaboration and develops programming to increase the health and safety of students. MPY is committed to bringing cutting-edge information and high-quality trainings to constituents and endeavors to provide solution-oriented, community-based, multi-disciplinary approaches to reducing and ideally eliminating risky behaviors for youth. MPY programming reaches nearly 6,000 educators per year in Massachusetts, spread across approximately 300 districts, with more than 190 webinars and over a dozen conferences and seminars.
Massachusetts Partnerships for Youth is governed by a Board of Directors made up of school superintendents, police and fire chiefs, and other community leaders who work closely with MPY staff to deliver this mission. To learn more, visit: massachusettspartnershipsforyouth.com.
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Ivy Watts, a mental health empowerment speaker and founder of Ivy Speaks, shared her story of the mental health struggles she experienced as an All-American student-athlete. (Photo Courtesy Massachusetts Partnerships for Youth)
Evren Gundez spoke about what it takes to be an effective leader. (Photo Courtesy Massachusetts Partnerships for Youth)
High school students in the audience during MPY’s “Building Leaders for a Better Future” conference on April 10 at Worcester Technical High School. (Photo Courtesy Massachusetts Partnerships for Youth)
