Speaker gives female students insight on personal growth

Giselle Cancio/Staff Writer 

The modern ideal girl in college does not pretend to be ditzy or bad at math; she’s high achieving, well spoken, sporty and takes on leadership roles.

This is according to Liz Funk, the author of “Supergirls Speak Out” (Simon and Schuster 2009), who came to speak to the FIU community this past week.

“The women on the Panhellenic Council’s Executive board are all involved with extracurricular activities so we noticed as a whole that many sorority women are involved on campus as well,” said Deyenira Gonzalez, Vice President of Programming. “Liz Funk offered to do a seminar on how to be involved without burning yourself out and we saw this as a great opportunity and seized it.”

Funk is a sorority woman herself, who attended university in New York City and currently resides there. She travels around the United States giving inspiring talks about her recently published book, which focuses on women’s personal growth.

She feels that many young women feel there is pressure to make it look as though they are effortlessly perfect and everything they attempt is excelled out. In the book and at the lecture, she argued that young women need to develop a sense of intrinsic worth. Intrinsic defined as coming from within. They need to feel they have value outside of the accomplishments, looks and what others think.

“Young women need to have a positive relationship with their ambition and, more importantly, themselves,” Funk said.

Planning for this event, Gonzalez expected the seminar to be educational and the chance to give women tips on how to support each other and themselves when becoming overworked and/or stressed.

“Members in the Greek community are constantly getting over-involved on campus and sometimes they feel a burn out,” Gonzalez said. “We hope those who went truly benefit from Funk’s tips.”

Funk’s lecture was named: “Overscheduled, Overcommitted College Women.” She spoke about how many women have a work hard play hard mentality in too many areas.

“Women study constantly and are committed to maintaining their good grade point average, they take on leadership roles in student organizations, and the latest, may have a little bit of FOMO (“fear of missing out”) whether that means never turning down an invitation or double booking on weeknights,” Funk said.

She stressed how being active, social and intellectually curious are important, but according to a survey, women were being “pulled in all directions” even on their free time.

During question and answer, an anonymous student asked, “When is it the right time to turn off your cell phone; with all my involvements I feel as if I’m always on call.”

To which Funk replied, “If we don’t expect our electronics to work when they are not charged, how can you expect that of your body? After all, after hours and weekends are for you and your personal time.”

When Funk asked who feels they are overscheduled, all but three women put their hands up. She continued the talk to encourage women to feel comfortable with saying no when they are already overscheduled.

“We try to compare our productivity to those of others, and it’s important to relax, even if you schedule that too,” Funk said. “If college women adopt stress-reducing habits and make personal time, they are more likely to be a balanced woman.”

giselle.cancio@fiusm.com