KSG Official’s Talk Motivates Young Girls

On Friday afternoon, in Harvard Hall 202, Victoria A. Budson, executive director of the Women and Public Policy Program at the Kennedy School of Government (KSG), took the podium before her audience of 100 enraptured elementary school girls.

The event was organized by the campus mentoring program Strong Women Strong Girls (SWSG), in which undergraduates meet once a week with girls in grades three to five from around Boston.

Budson was chosen as the SWSG’s History Month speaker—in part as a reaction to the lack of political education these young girls have received, said Tracy E. Nowski ’07, a SWSG assistant director and Friday’s co-coordinator.

“Civic education in schools has been cut back,” Nowski said. “We wanted to focus on something they’re probably not getting in schools.”

At 3:30 the girls started to pile into their seats, as mentors in orange shirts ran from corner to corner, attempting to control their excited charges.

Budson began anecdotally, aiming to connect the political system to something relevant to the nine-to 11-year-old girls.

“I want to talk to you about how you can help make sure that your days are good days,” she said. “Imagine you move into a new house, and on the first night at dinner, there is a discussion over who gets which bedroom.”

One bedroom in Budson’s metaphorical house was a spacious single overlooking a tree. The other was multi-bed and windowless. “How many of you would want to make sure you’re at dinner that night?” she asked.

One hundred hands went up.

After asking the girls why they would want to be there, Budson related her story to today’s politics.

“Every single day there are people sitting around tables making choices that impact our lives. Now who are those people?”

After a moment of silence, a few hands went up. “The president,” said one girl. “Our guardians,.” said another. “The Man!” offered a third.

Budson then spoke about her own transformation from apathetic child to politically charged teenager. She described her first trip to DC, and then the process of running for office.

“How do we get to choose who we need to sit at those tables?” she asked, and then explained how anyone could run for a political position.

“When you run for office and you’re helping the community, it feels so good inside,” Budson said.

She ended by attempting to relate her entire argument directly to her young audience.

“The government needs people like you,” she said. “Guess what—every single one of you could be President of the United States someday.”

To emphasize her point, Budson introduced and passed around pictures of some women in today’s government, including Condoleeza Rice, Benazir Bhutto, and Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao.

After a brief question and answer period, Budson was presented with a large card by two blushing girls, and an honorary Strong Women Strong Girls membership.

Many of the young attendees said afterward that they appreciated the speech.

“I thought it was good. It taught me a lot,” said Ryisha Grant, 9.

“I’m tired of all the men being Presidents. I think women would tell us the truth,” said Rayneka Tavares, 11.