Learning to Lead: Inside CedarRise’s 2025 Leadership Bootcamp for Young Girls

                                                   

 From October 9–11, 2025, the Iwollo Conference Centre in Aguobu Iwollo, Enugu State became a space for 27 teenage girls to explore what it means to understand themselves, find their voice and lead change.

The three-day Leadership Bootcamp, themed “The Girl I Am, The Change I Lead,” brought together girls aged 13–18 from Roseville Secondary School for an experience centred on emotional intelligence, personal growth, leadership, teamwork and service.

Rather than presenting leadership as something reserved for people with titles, the camp approached it as a personal practice—one that begins with understanding yourself, relating well with others and responding thoughtfully to challenges.

One of the sessions that explored this idea was Emotional Intelligence and Navigating Emotions, facilitated by Miss Ugonna Okelu. Through conversations, real-life scenarios and practical exercises, the girls examined self-awareness, emotional regulation, empathy and communication. They reflected on familiar experiences such as academic pressure, peer influence and conflict, and considered more intentional ways to respond.

The leadership experience became even more practical during the camp’s Parliament Simulation. Divided into five commissions aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals, the girls identified issues affecting young people and developed solutions that they then presented and defended during a plenary session.

Their chosen issues reflected challenges they recognised around them. Cygnus focused on teacher shortages and inadequate educational infrastructure; Orion on unaffordable healthcare; Phoenix on child marriage; Taurus on youth unemployment and outdated farming practices; and Dorado on unemployment and poverty.

The girls were not simply asked to identify problems. They had to think about how change could happen—who would need to be involved, what actions would be required and what impact their ideas could create.

Their proposals included teacher training, community healthcare support, advocacy against child marriage, digital and entrepreneurial skills training, modern agricultural practices, vocational training and access to seed funding.

In doing so, they practised public speaking, teamwork, problem-solving and advocacy while gaining experience in thinking through real community challenges.

Learning continued outside the formal sessions. A Scavenger Hunt challenged participants to communicate and collaborate under pressure, while the evening “15-Minute Time-Out” created space for quiet reflection, prayer and personal processing. Together, these activities gave the girls different ways to experience leadership—not only through speaking and decision-making, but also through listening, cooperation and reflection.

The results were reflected in both participant feedback and programme ratings. The bootcamp received an overall satisfaction score of 4.26 out of 5, while Relevance and Helpfulness scored 4.39 and Expectations Met scored 4.43.

The girls' own reflections added meaning to the numbers. One participant described the camp as “fun, very interactive and beyond enlightening,” while another said, “This camp helped me believe that I can be a leader.” Others spoke about becoming more confident, managing their emotions better and understanding the importance of kindness, empathy and service.

The bootcamp was ultimately about more than teaching girls how to lead. It gave them opportunities to practise leadership, reflect on who they are and recognise that their voices can contribute to the communities around them.

That is what “The Girl I Am, The Change I Lead” came to represent: leadership does not begin with a title. It begins with self-awareness, confidence and the willingness to use your voice to make a difference.