At the third annual National Mentoring Summit, which convened in January 2013, Mustang Leadership Partners stepped onto the national stage. Dr. Elaine Swafford, Director of Chattanooga Girls Leadership Academy, presented the unique mission and work of MLP to over 650 corporate and philanthropic leaders from across the nation at this inspiring event. And the audience couldn’t hear enough.
Co-hosted by The Bank of America Charitable Foundation and MENTOR: The National Mentoring Partnership, the 2013 National Mentoring Summit focused on the theme “Mentoring Works: Inspire. Achieve. Advocate.” Dr. Swafford gave one of the opening addresses to kick-start the conference. She artfully demonstrated that through Mustang Leadership Partners, mentoring works: students from Chattanooga Girls Leadership Academy are inspired and encouraged to achieve and advocate – not just for the American mustang – but for themselves as well.
“The outcomes are profound so far,” she stated. “Our mentored are more sure. They are more confident because they met and conquered something new.”
Dr. Swafford artfully described MLP’s history and distinctive approach to developing leadership skills and mentoring relationships:
“Sue Anne Wells recognized the ultimate mentoring relationship was at her very fingertips. She combined her love of horses and her belief in mentorship and created the Mustang Leadership Partners. MLP is a mentorship, leadership and STEM project created to bring hands-on experiences that lead to life-long lessons inspired by the wild American mustang to our urban girls.”
Dr. Swafford’s presentation closed with a clip from the documentary Untamed Legacy: America’s Wild Mustang, which showcases the MLP mentorship model in action.
At this National Mentoring Summit, where hundreds of leaders representing hundreds of ideas and programs gathered, MLP added an exciting and inspiring approach to a national conversation about best practices in mentoring children and young adults.