By Tihut Tamrat, Contributing Writer
On Saturday, April 27th, DeTOUR Empowers, a nonprofit that focuses on increasing access to education and employment opportunities for girls of color, hosted the Focused and Naturally Confident Youth, F.A.N.C.Y. , Teen Girls EXPO event at KIPP Adelante Preparatory Academy, just behind the Jacobs Center for Neighborhood Innovation. Vendors, exhibits, workshops, demos, food, and fun for elementary, middle, and high school girls were designed to motivate and achieve academic excellence for young girls, provide a source of education, allow a platform for exploring career/academic interests, and provide the essential skills needed to become community leaders.
Tinesia Conwright, founder and executive director of DeTOUR, welcomed and started the event by hyping up the girls with boisterous energy, getting them and parents excited for the fun-filled day prepared for them! She introduced alumni and the F.A.N.C.Y. Teen Girls that helped her execute the event, along with Congresswoman Sara Jacobs, whose speech invigorated and inspired the need for young leadership in the community. “We need you guys, we need you right now! I think you guys really know what we need in our country and in our world right now. We need your creativity to make the world a better place”, said Jacobs.
The workshops ranged from arts activities to STEM experiments, tips and tricks on how to eat healthy, and how to design brand logos! One such experiment middle school girls took part in was extracting DNA from strawberries to journey into the basics of DNA and nature’s blueprint, led by DeTour Empower’s very own Joshiery Torres. Other workshops that sparked interest were the “You Too Can Eat Healthy!” workshop led by Chef Marúkah and “Crafting Impact: Building Your Own Youth Movement Club & Nonprofit Edition” workshop led by Nhyira Bawua.
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