Illuminate x Durham Case Study Conference Overview

Hi everyone! My name is Maryam Nisar and I am a Grade 10 student at Pine Ridge Secondary School. Today, I had the pleasure to attend Illuminate x Durham’s regional conference. Here are my thoughts highlighting what I learned today about the "Future of Women in Leadership & STEM" conference.

All the workshops from today were very inspiring and being able to listen to all those successful women speak about STEM was very enlightening. Something that I learned today that surprised me was the imposter syndrome and how it mostly affects women. Imposter syndrome feeling like you are not good enough which breeds high achievers. Many highly successful women often experience insecurities, self-doubt, low self-confidence, and a lack of understanding of how they got to where they are or where they are going so it pulls them from achievement. I also enjoyed one of the workshops where youth need to stand up and make an impact or contribute because they can and are able to help make an impact by looking at different experiences.

The case study presentation was so frightening that I couldn't concentrate on preparing my slides, but once we were finished, I felt relieved to have completed them and delivered them in the manner I had been practicing for the previous week. Many of the other presentations were fantastic, and I enjoyed hearing about all of the creative solutions that various groups came up with that I wish I had thought of.

Throughout all of the workshops, I had an amazing experience. This conference inspired me to pursue what I want to be as a woman with determination. The whole conference ended with an amazing presentation about how important female empowerment is which I found very informative.

Thank you for reading my blog and I'm very grateful to have had an opportunity to be part of Illuminate x Durham.