Power Meeting

May 15, 2018

The professionals selected for the first panel of Friday’s Junior Athena Workshop let attendees in on a little secret.

Most of them didn’t know what they wanted to do with their lives as young women.

“I’m not on TV like I thought I’d be,” said Megan Chicone of State Farm Insurance.

It was a relief for many of the junior and senior students who were selected to attend the first Junior Athena Workshop, sponsored by POWER of Southpointe, a division of the Washington County Chamber of Commerce devoted to building strong women leaders in business, and Range Resources, where the workshop was held.

Young women from Avella, Bentworth, Canon-McMillan, Charleroi, McGuffey, Peters Township, Trinity and Washington school districts were selected to attend. They were paired with a POWER ambassador, who then accompanied them to the 16th Annual Washington County Athena Award ceremony.

Athena is an international organization through which leadership awards are presented to a woman or man for professional excellence, community service and helping women attain their professional goals.

During the workshop, two panels of professionals answered questions about their careers and offered advice. Tara Gleason of the Washington County Chamber said there are plans to expand the workshop in the future.

Laural Ziemba of Range, who organized the event, said the goal is to help students forge connections with professionals in their community, and apply what they learned during the workshop to their lives.

Sara Schumacher of Monongahela Valley Hospital urged the young women to pursue careers in fields that they truly enjoy.

“We, as leaders, have a responsibility to help you try to find an industry in which you can flourish,” she said.