Aditi Ghalsasi, grade 10, contributed to this report

A group of young women from Harker attended the Watermark Conference for Women at the San Jose Convention Center on Feb. 23. More than 6,500 people attended the sold-out conference for women professionals.

The conference provided several networking and learning opportunities for female high school students. As part of the Young Women’s Program, the girls were able to attend a variety of workshops ranging from body positivity to life after high school graduation. The students also had the opportunity to observe two phenomenal keynote sessions with speakers Amal Clooney, Reese Witherspoon, and Jodi Kantor, who spoke about their personal experiences and about the role of women in the workplace. 

Aliesa Bahri, grade 12, commented, “there were lots of great mentors and inspiring speakers that made it a genuinely amazing conference for me; especially Amal Clooney because she’s one of my personal heroes, and I am interested in law.”

Senior Melissa Kwan said, “I’ve never been in a room with that many people that care so much about equality and are willing to express their opinions on it. It was awesome to hear all the applause after all the points the speakers were making. Someone would say it’s time for equality in the workplace and everyone would stand up clapping.”

“The event featured speakers, workshops and exhibitors to empower, connect and inspire women from all over the Silicon Valley,” noted Juston Glass, business and entrepreneurship teacher. “This is a great CareerConnect event and opportunity for our young women to expand their network and skills in areas including personal branding, setting and achieving goals, communications, negotiations, leadership and organizational excellence,” he added.