A new event meant to support and empower young girls has been successful, according to organizers, who plan to build on that success.
MAYDAY stands for Mentors Actively Yielding Direction Assisting Youth.
The group’s first event was held Saturday at Wheatley School for girls ranging in ages 9-18 years old. An attendee was also presented with a $500 scholarship to Three Rivers College.
“We, the ladies of MAYDAY Poplar Bluff, would like to thank everyone that made our day phenomenal as we were able to serve young ladies and give back to our community,” organizer Erin Ceesay said.
Ceesay is the quality programs specialist for the Poplar Bluff satellite office of the Missouri Department of Mental Health.
MAYDAY’s first scholarship was awarded to Crystal McGee, who graduated from Poplar Bluff High School this month and will continue her education at Three Rivers College this fall.
The MAYDAY 2024 Conference was broken into three sessions: Bold, Beautiful and HEALTHY.
In between sessions, mentees and mentors enjoyed a 360 photo booth ran by Jamall “DJ MAL” Kilgore.
During the sessions, the mentors empowered the girls to always be bold, recognize how beautiful they are and live healthy lives, Ceesay said.
Mentors Jessie Polk and Sapphira Halliburton completed a talk about being bold. Youth need to understand that in every area of their lives they will need to be bold and stand up for themselves respectfully, the mentors said.
They discussed a scenario regarding hair and how hair is an integral part of an individual, as well as that no matter how they choose to style it, it is an authentic part of them and their vision of how they see themselves.
The second part of the Be Bold session had mentees paint their version of being bold on a canvas.
Mentors Albertina Henry and Monica McCain displayed how to dress for success during the beautiful session. The presenters not only had outfits displayed on mannequins of how to dress appropriately in the corporate world; they also wore outfits showing the mentees how not to dress out in public.
They discussed the importance of dressing nice daily and keeping their bodies presentable. The mentors said bonnets, revealing clothes, baggy clothes, pajama pants were not suitable for outside of the house and empowered the girls to dress their absolute best at all times.
Healthy was session three. Mentors Lotoya Halliburton and Keona Ferguson spoke on keeping bodies and minds healthy at all times. Halliburton discussed the importance of eating healthy foods and listed healthy foods to eat on a daily basis. Halliburton also encouraged the mentees and mentors to stay active and taught the participates a line dance.
Ferguson informed the mentees on the importance of knowing how to recognize anxiety and how to cope with anxiety if it arises. She also spoke on the risks of vaping and reiterated the importance of eating healthy.
Mentor LaMesha McGee did a recap of the conference, asked mentees if they had any questions about the day and passed out a survey for all mentees to complete.
The conference ended with the mentor Shelby Jefferson encouraging the youth to further their education like many of the mentors have and stated how important education is to us as women.
Jefferson recently graduated with her bachelor’s degree from Southeast Missouri State University and will start her career as a history teacher at Poplar Bluff Junior High this fall.
Jefferson presented MAYDAY’s first Scholarship to McGee. Ceesay is the chairperson and advisor Kathern Harris worked with mentors Ferguson, Halliburton, Sapphira Halliburton, Henry, Jefferson, McCain, McGee, Lori Nelson, Polk and Christina Williams, who is also the secretary.