The Young Women’s Leadership Cohort is one of the many unique opportunities offered to students at the Hun School. The cohort is a safe space for young women to come together and talk about what it means to be a leader and a woman in today’s world and how being both can be made easier for future generations to come. Throughout the school year, meetings are held in the evenings and students discuss feminism, positivity, confidence, kindness, and support in an environment that fosters love, growth, and the safety to be entirely authentic.
Applications for the Young Women’s Leadership Cohort open in March. The two-year program is offered to freshmen and sophomores. In the first year, students who are accepted must commit to attending four interactive workshops with their peers in which they discuss relationship-centered leadership styles, building self-confidence and practicing self-compassion, handling stress, anxiety, and toxic self-criticism, and tools to overcome leadership challenges. Intertwined with these discussions are activities that encourage bonding between students and opportunities for new friendships to be constructed. In the second year of the cohort, a series of guest speakers are welcomed. These speakers focus on building the confidence and capacity to network, learning the importance of fostering mentor-oriented relationships, and helping students create leadership plans for the rest of their time at Hun and all of life that comes after it.
Kate Smith ‘26 says, “Being able to talk with a group of just girls and share our experiences is just a really special thing.” For many people, leaders included, speaking up in front of a group of any size is a difficult thing to do. During Young Women’s Leadership meetings, everyone knows that no matter what a person says or does, they aren’t going to be judged for it. Girls support girls, and not just in meetings. By being in the Young Women’s Leadership Cohort, a support system is always waiting.
The Young Women’s Leadership Cohort is led by strong female role models and true supporters of students. With their guidance and support, students feel safe to say what they feel and express their ideas with confidence. Through this comfortability, they are simultaneously learning how to create that same environment for others. With the lessons learned during Young Women’s Leadership meetings, students go on to start their own clubs, advocate for their beliefs, lead discussions at the harkness table, demonstrate positivity on the field and on the stage, and be an overall good friend. This cohort is just one of the many ways that Hun encourages its community to not just be good students, but to be kind humans.
