Marian Magazine - Marian High School

10
Marian Hosts Inaugural Leadership Institute for Seventh and Eighth Grade Girls
Marian believes that leadership can be learned and that all girls have the potential to become great leaders. In June 2010, 25 seventh and
eighth grade girls attended the first Leadership Institute to discover their inner leader. The institute was facilitated by Marian leaders
themselves. Five members of the Class of 2011 hosted small group activities focusing on three different types of leadership: personal
leadership – goal setting, attitude, values awareness, time management, stress management and motivation; interpersonal leadership –
communication, active listening, giving and receiving feedback and conflict management; and group leadership – group decision-making,
group dynamics, roles within a group, brainstorming, building consensus, running a meeting and team building.
“The activities gave each girl a chance to discover her leadership potential,” said Rachel Treinen ’11. “What we witnessed was that each
participant had something unique and special to offer the group. As a result, no one girl ever dominated, but rather 25 distinctive leaders
discovered their full potential.”
Annie McClure and Abbey Furlow, Class of 2010
Celebrating all Types
of Leadership
Marian recognizes that leadership goes
beyond excelling in the athletic arena or
climbing the corporate ladder. At Marian
being a leader means being true to yourself,
believing in yourself and always striving to do
your best.
Marian recognizes that some leaders are
overt. They stand out in a crowd. They do
their best out in front, cheering others on
and holding people accountable. Other
leaders are quiet. They are true to who they
are without making a fuss. They do their best
as part of a team. Their contribution to the
collective is just as important as anyone’s.
It takes all types of leaders to create the
unique, safe, supportive sisterhood that is
Marian.
Are you a Marian leader who has a special
story to share? Do you know one? E-mail
Jamie Hatz Robinette ‘94 at alumdirector@
omahamarian.org. By sharing success stories
we can continue our celebration of leadership
and strengthen our community of sisters.
All-School Read Provides
Inspiration and Insight
In early September, Marian launched the Year
of Leadership with its first all-school read
and author presentation. The novel Flygirl by
Sherri L. Smith was selected because it is an
inspiring story of a young African-American
woman named Ida Mae who was a pilot with
the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP)
during World War II.
The day-long event began with Smith
addressing members of the Marian
community about her experience
as an author, in particular about
her experience researching this
book. From there, Smith met the
student body for an all-school
presentation about the WASP
and how she came to realize
her novel. “We could not have
asked for a better author
Kayla Hasenjager ‘13
to visit Marian for this first all-school read
effort,” said Head of School Susan Russell
Toohey ‘82. “Sherri was approachable,
knowledgeable of her subject matter and
available to the girls, who wasted no time in
asking for an autographed copy of Flygirl. If
she had grown up here in Omaha, she would
have been a Marian girl.”
Food for Thought
As part of the Year of Leadership, Marian
also developed the Lunch with a Leader
speaker series. These lunches provide
current students and members of the Marian
community with examples of how Marian
alumnae have leveraged their leadership
experiences at Marian in order to become
leaders in their professional fields and
communities.
Sharon Slattery ’75, a former FBI agent,
kicked off the speaker series in the fall.
During her career with the FBI, her positions
included investigator,
liaison, trainer
and manager
at both the