Women speak of empowerment, involvement at Flourish Magazine summit

Dreary weather surrounded the Osage Centre on Thursday, with uncharacteristically cool temperatures for May and rain in Cape Girardeau.

In a strange way, it was the proper backdrop to the messages being conveyed inside by a panel of presenters and keynote speaker Adrienne Ross at the Flourish Magazine Women’s Summit.

Throughout topics covering everything from community leadership, education and entrepreneurship to health and wellness, a relentless theme arose: We need to make our own sunshine.

Or as Ross, an author and inspirational speaker raised in the Bronx, New York, projects told her luncheon audience, “Easy is not an option. Women know how to make something out of nothing, because that’s what we do.”

And so it was.

With rain falling outside the window, panelists Jeanne Muckerman, Capt. Bridgette Amick and Felice Roberson sat side by side at a table, discussing community leadership and the changes possible from involvement.

Roberson responded to her son’s shooting death in Cape Girardeau in 2015 by founding Stop Needless Acts of Violence Please (SNAP).

“Still with what has happened to me, I love the community,” Roberson told the room. “It’s not about me; it’s about the future of Cape, what it’s going to look like and what you want it to look like.”

She talked about not turning a blind eye to the problems afflicting the community — the same ones that play out around the country — and instead rolling up sleeves.

“We got to get in it,” Roberson said. “We’ve got to lean into it and do something about it.”

Muckerman, a successful real-estate agent, counts the United Way among several community organizations in which she’s involved.

She said she’s motivated to be a voice for getting involved, saying she believes everyone is affected by events, and united efforts can make change.

“I believe we can all create the place where we want to live,” Muckerman said.

Amick spoke about becoming invested in people’s lives, something she and her husband, Ronnie, have done as captains with The Salvation Army in Cape Girardeau the past four years.

Amick and the rest of the panel spoke of seeing violence, homelessness, abuse and poverty as problems with no boundaries — gender, race, age or location.

She said helping the south side of Cape Girardeau is beneficial to all.

“How can we invest in the lives of those children and the families and that community so that it’s our community?” Amick said, stressing the final two words.

The panelists agreed united efforts were the best way of approaching problems that often are seen individually on a regular basis, leaving one feeling powerless or indifferent or assuming someone else is addressing them.

“It’s fun to be involved and feel good about what you’re doing and get other people on the bus with you,” Muckerman said. “So in my opinion, we just can’t do things alone, so the organizations provide the framework to make the most systemic, long-lasting change.“

Elsewhere, with an emergency vehicle’s siren audible in the distance at one time, educators Barbara Kohlfeld, Jalon Lies and Nita DuBose were addressing character development.

Kohlfeld, principal at Blanchard Elementary since 2000, said getting students to take responsibility for their actions and setting high bars for achievement set the stage for successful futures.

“Really getting kids to own their lives, and saying, ‘This is your one and only life; make good choices. Come on, what you doin’?’” Kohlfeld said. “And to get them to understand that they are children, but some day they will be grown, and it will happen sooner than they think.”

The panel stressed the development of good citizenship, which includes regular attendance, punctuality, participation and cooperative social skills.

DuBose, a counselor at Cape Girardeau Central High School, said building relationships with students can help teachers discover problems that can be addressed.

Lies, principal of Cape Christian School, said education is the primary responsibility of parents, with them partnering with and delegating responsibility to schools.

“That does not mean they neglect that responsibility,” Lies said. “Again, a child’s success is directly correlated to the involvement of the parents.”

jbreer@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3629

Pertinent address:

Osage Centre, Cape Girardeau, Mo.