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Paynesville – The Sherah Young Women Initiative has awarded scholarships to three exceptional female students after emerging as winners of the just ended “2019 High School Girls Competition.”
The students, Praise Vah of the J.J. Roberts High School took the public speaking award when she charmed the crowd with a powerful presidential candidate campaign speech, Georgina Kollorwood of the St. Theresa Convent High school won the Spelling Bee after correctly spelling 50 words on the spot, and Ms. Roynelle Ricks of the J. J. Roberts High school took away the Writing competition prize with a dramatic poem titled “There is Nowhere Like Home.” The poem focused on sexual abuse against girls in Liberia.
All of the three girls were awarded a one-year scholarship at their respective schools and were presented trophies and medals by the organization. In addition, their speeches & poems will be published in the Sherah Young Women Initiative’s upcoming ‘2020 Women Devotional Diary’ written by the organization’s Founder, Miatta Sonii Jarry.
The winners, in separate remarks, noted the competition was big boost to their self-esteem. They called on other Liberian girls to focus on pursuing their education and to take the challenge to participate in competition next year.
Speaking at the grand finale of the competition held at the Golden Key Hotel in Paynesville, Mrs. Jarry said the ‘2019 High School Girls’ Competition’ was organized to show out girls’ intelligence and to expose and enhance the talents of girls in Liberia.
The all-girls competition, the first of its kind in Liberia covered public speaking, writing, and spelling.
“The competition showed out girls’ power and encouraged parents to send their girls to school. The event was also used to carry out awareness against sexual based violence against girls and women,” said Mrs. Jarry in a brief interview with FrontPage Africa.
“The intelligence of the ten female participants from five schools in Monrovia sent a positive message about the importance of girls’ education in Liberia. Girls and women can contribute significantly to nation building if given the right education, training and other opportunities,” she added.
Also speaking at the event, Atty. Karnio Bai Gbala inspired the all of the ten participants of grand finale to pursue their dreams and pay attention to their lessons. The easy way to success, he said is education.
He thanked the winners and runner-ups for their brilliant and exceptional performances and encouraged those that did not win to keep up the fight.
Sherah Young Women Initiative is a non-for-profit Liberian organization focused on empowering young women and girls to contribute to nation building. The entity achieves its goal by running free mentoring programs and events for girls and young women, needy girls’ scholarships vocational training, and short professional courses to empower young women.
Meanwhile, the Competition this year, according the organization’s Executive Director was fully supported by the Sherah Young women Initiative. However, the organization is seeking sponsorship for the program which has been planned to be held annually.