Former first daughter Barbara Bush encouraged young girls to use their skills for the greater good on June 16 at the awards ceremony of the Louisiana Girls Leadership Academy in the Cotillion Ballroom.

Bush, founder and CEO of Global Health Corps, a company that matches college graduates with international health organizations, shared stories of her travels to places like Liberia. She explained that the people she encountered on her trips, along with the leadership skills set forth by her grandparents and parents, fueled her desire to help anyone struggling with healthcare in the United States and beyond.

In speaking of her experience of watching the first woman president of Liberia step forward to lead her country, Bush said, “it was an example of how one person’s determination can change the lives of so many other people.”

Bush said the graduates she hires to join the Global Health Corps team are another example of that determination.  

“A lot of the statistics on world health care are very overwhelming, but what’s even more daunting is the commitment of people who are trying to solve them.”

The work she and the members of her organization are doing is not an unrealistic dream for the girls who attended the academy, Bush said.

“I wish that y’all would hurry up and graduate so that I can hire all of you to work with me,” Bush said. “It’s pretty clear you guys have a lot of great leadership skills already.”

The 29-year-old Yale graduate encouraged the girls at the academy to pursue leadership roles, no matter what special skills they possess.

“No matter what you do or where you are in your life, your talents can make a difference.”

The academy, sponsored by the University-housed Louisiana Center for Women and Government, is held each summer to help girls in eighth through 11th grades learn about policy-making, elections and pubic speaking. In addition, they visited the city council and state capitol to see government in action. In the four days they spent at the University, they also worked in groups to create presentations pertaining to energy and the environment. The projects were presented at the awards ceremony and a panel of judges selected the top two presentations to be recognized at the National Women’s Leadership Group Conference in Washington D.C. later this year.

University students who served as counselors for the academy said the program offered participants unique opportunities to witness the governmental process up close.

“It is important for the girls because they get exposure to women in government and opportunities they may not have gotten elsewhere,” nursing junior Kelsey Morris said.

Nursing senior Caitlin Bacon, whose group presented one of the winning projects, with their concept for clothes made from eco-friendly materials, said the academy also let participants work with others on projects they were all interested in.

“They learn valuable skills, but they also get to meet girls with similar goals from across the state and make lifelong friends.”