Inside LEADS:
Sample Experiences
While LEADS sessions vary by age group and location, each experience is designed to help girls practice leadership through hands-on learning, real-world exposure, and purposeful conversation.
Community Experience: Team Cooking
In this LEADS session, participants explore leadership through a hands-on cooking challenge designed to mirror real-world team dynamics. Girls work collaboratively to plan, prepare, and present a dish while navigating roles, time constraints, and shared decision-making—building leadership skills through experience, reflection, and guided practice.
Welcome and Community Check In
20 minutes
Participants begin with a structured check-in designed to build trust and psychological safety within the cohort. Facilitators introduce the leadership theme of the day—collaborative leadership—and guide a brief discussion on what effective teamwork looks like in different settings (school, sports, clubs, family).
Leadership Concept: Collaboration and Roles
20 minutes
Through a short interactive discussion, girls explore:
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What it means to lead with others, not over them
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How different leadership roles (organizer, communicator, problem-solver) contribute to group success
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Why leadership styles may shift depending on context
Facilitators connect these ideas to real-world examples, including professional kitchens, project teams, and workplaces.
Hands On Team Challenge: The Cooking Experience
75 minutes
Participants are divided into small teams and introduced to a cooking challenge facilitated by a local chef, food entrepreneur, or trained instructor.
Each team is responsible for:
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Assigning roles (e.g., coordinator, prep lead, timekeeper, presenter)
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Reading and adapting a recipe
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Managing time and resources
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Communicating clearly under pressure
Facilitators observe and guide rather than direct, allowing leadership behaviors to emerge naturally.
Reflection and Leadership Debrief
30 minutes
Following the activity, participants engage in a guided reflection:
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What leadership roles showed up in your group?
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How did your team handle disagreement or stress?
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What worked well—and what would you do differently next time?
Girls are encouraged to connect their experience back to school, friendships, and future leadership opportunities.
Real World Connection and Takeaway
20 minutes
The session closes with a brief conversation about how leadership skills learned today apply beyond the kitchen—whether in group projects, student organizations, or future careers.
Each participant identifies one leadership skill they practiced and one goal they want to carry into the next session.
Campus Experience:
Chancellor Chat
In this LEADS session, participants gather on three university campuses—each hosted within a partner institution—where they experience leadership not as a concept, but as a lived reality. Girls engage directly with the highest level of academic leadership through a coordinated, multi-campus experience designed to spark curiosity, confidence, and long-term vision.
Campus-Based Small Group Sessions
45 minutes
Participants begin the day on their assigned campus, meeting in small cohorts within university spaces. Facilitators lead discussions on leadership, visibility, and representation, helping girls reflect on what leadership looks like in large institutions—and why it matters who holds those roles. Girls are encouraged to name leaders they see, leaders they don’t, and what questions they have about power, preparation, and responsibility.
The Multi-Campus Chancellor Panel
60 minutes
At a designated time, all three campuses connect via live Zoom for a joint leadership conversation featuring the chancellors of each institution. Together, the chancellors participate in a guided, student-centered panel focused on leadership pathways, preparation, and the future of women in leadership. Sample discussion prompts include:
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To the female chancellor(s): What experiences or mentors helped prepare you to step into this role?
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To the male chancellor(s): How do leaders actively prepare institutions—and people—for women to succeed them?
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To all panelists: What responsibility do current leaders have to the next generation?
This shared conversation allows girls to witness leadership modeled across gender, perspective, and institutional culture—something few students, or adults, ever experience.
Reflections and Meaning-Making
25 minutes
After the panel, cohorts return to small-group reflection. Facilitators guide students in connecting what they heard to their own leadership journeys:
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What surprised you?
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What kind of leader do you want to become?
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What responsibilities do leaders have to open doors for others?
Girls are encouraged to see themselves not just as future leaders, but as part of a leadership continuum that includes mentorship, preparation, and advocacy.
Interactive
Engagement and Fun Leadership Moments
20 minutes
To keep the experience dynamic and age-appropriate, the panel includes interactive elements such as:
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Rapid-fire questions submitted by students across campuses
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Live polls or “would-you-rather” leadership questions
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Lighthearted challenges the chancellors agree to participate in
These elements reinforce that leadership can be serious and human—thoughtful, but not distant.