On Monday, more than 400 female student athletes from 28 high schools across Chicago’s North Shore filled the auditorium at Glenbrook North High School to learn about female empowerment in sports.
The President’s Day conference, titled “EmpowerHER,” aims to provide female athletes with resources and information to help build leadership skills and pursue a career in athletics. The event also addressed the widening gap in athlete participation rates.
Gabi Steres, a senior at Glenbrook North who runs cross country and competes in track, explained to Pioneer Press that being an athlete to her means striking a balance between school and sports and representing her school and community.
“I hope to grasp a better perspective on how to be a leader and express confidence through my sport, especially learning more about some of these female speakers and how they have been able to learn from their experiences,” she said. “I also think it’s really interesting to hear about topics like nutrition and handling injuries.”
Kicking off the conference was a keynote address from Dr. Wendy Ellis Jones, a former All-American track champion and Chicago Sky executive, who shared her personal story of how she went from being a student athlete to landing one of the top executive spots in the WNBA.
Jones recalled the many setbacks she faced early on in her athletic career before reaching a pivotal moment — interviewing for a position with Chicago Sky, despite having no sales experience.
“I don’t know about selling tickets,” Jones said she told the executive at Chicago Sky. “But I can sell a dream.” A couple weeks later, she was hired for the role.
For many student athletes in attendance, Jones’ message of finding one’s voice as a female athlete and pursuing a dream in sports deeply resonated.
Carlin Endre, a senior at Glenbrook South High School who plays softball and flag football, said the biggest takeaway for her was the reminder not to feel “small” as a female athlete. “As a woman, you’re able to make yourself known and you can use your voice,” she said. “The more confident you get, the more success you will find.”
Another senior at Glenbrook South, Laila Grodecki, echoed this sentiment, saying she learned more about taking up space as a woman and using her voice to overcome challenges.
Molly Tomlinson, assistant principal of athletics at Glenbrook North High School, who started the idea for the conference, said her goal is to give female student athletes the tools she wished she had as a student. This is the second EmpowerHER event, with the conference being held at Deerfield North High School last year.
“My 12-year-old self is really happy right now,” she expressed. “When I was an athlete, I needed something like this.” Tomlinson added that rarely are there opportunities for female athletes from different high schools to come together and support one another.
“When is there going to be an opportunity to network and talk to another athlete that’s going through the same things, just in a different building?”
Following the keynote, students filtered out of the auditorium to explore 14 different breakout sessions held in classrooms, focused on a variety of topics that female athletes might face in their sport. One session, focused on self-awareness and recruiting, outlined options for female athletes who may want to pursue athletics beyond high school.
In the session led by Courtney Sakellaris, senior manager for high schools at Honest Game and previous assistant athletic director at Oak Park and River Forest High School, students were encouraged to evaluate where they best “shine” in their sport and think about who their mentors are. Sakellaris also walked students through the different college levels available to them and showed the percentage of athletes who are accepted at the NCAA level.
“Being a student athlete means to be able to learn leadership skills, to be able to collaborate and to be able to work with other people in a way that you can’t find anywhere else,” Endre said.
