Women in Learning & Leadership

Girls at the United Nations

PLEASE NOTE: THIS PROGRAM IS NO LONGER ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS

The Women in Learning and Leadership Summer Program is designed for young people entering their junior or senior years in high school. High achieving rising sophomores are also encouraged to apply. We expect the cost for the program to be $3500 (tuition, room and board included) for this two-week experience.

WILL is a national 4-year co-curricular academic women’s leadership program which was established at TCNJ in 2000. The WILL Program fosters an understanding of gender and its intersections with race, culture, class and other aspects of social identity. Students learn to apply classroom learning to contemporary social justice issues through activism projects, leadership opportunities, and diversity events.

As a summer WILL student you will learn and build your leadership skills and develop techniques for creating positive social change in your local and global community. You will earn college credits while building your Student Activities Report with leadership skills development and community engagement.

This class introduces high school girls to the work of the United Nations with an emphasis on girls’ human rights. Participants will learn about the Convention on the Rights of the Child, Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and the Beijing Platform for Action, as well as other human rights documents mobilized to promote the rights of the girl child. As part of the two-week session, we will tour the United Nations headquarters, meet with international delegates, and speak to other representatives working on behalf of girls’ rights. Participants will learn how girls engage in the political processes of the United Nations, and will look at the annual meeting of the Commission on the Status of Women as an example of girls’ political activism. As part of the Women in Learning and Leadership Program (WILL) at TCNJ, students can expect to develop their leadership skills and capacities as powerful agents of change. In small groups, participants will develop concrete action plans to address the obstacles facing girls around the world.