Nearly 60 high school students from the Lower Hudson Valley gathered for the Young Women's Leadership Summit Sept. 29, 2026, at Manhattanville University in Purchase to discuss human rights and how to create change.
Activist Kerry Kennedy, president of the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Center, delivered the keynote address. Kennedy encouraged the young women to be advocates of social change in honor of her mother, Ethel Kennedy, a human rights advocate and a 1949 almuna of Manhattanville University.
Through discussion, the young women identified their personal "why," explored contemporary human rights challenges and examined project ideas that create positive change in their communities.
"Something like this is so important for high school students
and especially young women who represent a fraction of the leadership population in the world," said Julia Drake, the assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction in the Katonah Lewisboro School District and coordinator of the event. "This is an effort to help them make a positive difference in the world and be equipped to be leaders in their own right."
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This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Kerry Kennedy at Manhattanville for Young Women's Leadership Summit
