Change the World!

Young Women in Excellence (YWIE) is looming.  I'm not sure exactly how we are going to present it, but one thing is clear to me:  I want the theme to be "Change the World!"  I was inspired by Sis. Elaine Dalton's talk at the Young Women Inservice, and from a quote from a devotional talk she gave at BYU-Idaho:

     "Your lives of preparation, righteousness, courage and purity will change the world!"

The purpose of  YWIE, according to Handbook 2, is to recognize the young women for the good things they are doing, as well as celebrating Personal Progress.  We need to sit the Young Women down and see what they have done with Personal Progress in the last few months.  What I really do not want is a Young Women in Excellence where only a few YW are highlighted because they were the ones that have earned ribbons for their scriptures to show that they have completed a Value. Our YW are doing good things in their lives, and they need to be encouraged in and recognized for those things.

I want the girls to realize that they can change the world, from where they stand out to the wide world.  I want to do all I can to help the girls know that they are empowered as they go forward to change their circumstances, change the people around them for the better, and help others change the world.  They will have the faith and courage to dare to do great things as they embrace the Gospel.

I was thinking that perhaps, instead of a spiritual thought during Opening Exercises, we would challenge the girls each week to do something to do something great.  Maybe they will decide to go visit one of the less-active girls.  I really want to encourage that, because girls will want to come to activities and Sunday meetings if they feel like they have a friend there.  Perhaps they will take the time to speak to someone that looks like they need a kind word.  Or maybe they want to set a goal to do well in their classes, and they need to really push themselves to work hard to improve their grades.  Or whatever they feel they need to do to stretch, to grow, and to change their world for the better.

Readers, what do you think about this?  I think my idea is not fully-formed yet.  Personal Progress is perfect to incorporate into the challenge.  Perhaps our girls need to see Personal Progress in a new light in order to recommit to the program.