Grand Valley State University will host the ATHENA Connections Conference on March 10 to provide a chance for students to interact with female leaders in business and education.

The Women’s Center is organizing the event in coalition with other GVSU programs, such as the Career Center, and will work to connect students with female professionals in the area.

Jessica Jennrich, Women’s Center director, described the event as an opportunity for networking and for getting invaluable mentoring advice from women who are working in a variety of areas. The event is an interactive seminar which will provide information to students while they are surrounded by the female leaders in their fields.

The goal of the event is to give students not only an opportunity to meet female leaders, but also the chance to make connections, which can help these students when they graduate.

Jennrich explained that the event will not only be attended by students, but also faculty.

“We typically have around 100 attendees,” she said. “Only around 75 percent of these are students. This event is open to students at all colleges, and we often have good representation from Davenport University, Calvin College and other locations.”

Last year’s event was held in November and featured 2013 ATHENA Award winner Jeanne Englehart. The event was well attended by GVSU students, Davenport students and a number of community members, Jennrich said.

The ATHENA Connections Conference is an annual event, and this year’s keynote speaker is Janean Couch, the assistant director of the Career Center and 2014 ATHENA Young Professional Award nominee.

Couch, a native of Flint, Mich., graduated from GVSU with a Bachelor of Science degree in Public and Nonprofit Administration and a Master of Education degree in Adult and Higher Education. She currently works for the GVSU Career Center assisting students, faculty and alumni.

ATHENA Connections is a part of ATHENA International, a nonprofit organization founded by Martha Maywood Mertz in 1982, which is designed to assist students in developing career and leadership skills. The ATHENA Leadership model espouses eight principles: live authentically, learn constantly, advocate fiercely, act courageously, foster collaboration, build relationships, give back and celebrate.

Mertz explained that the mission of ATHENA International is to inspire women to bring their innate leadership skills into the world.

“Living authentically, collaborating, bringing core values to your mission – while these traits may come more easily for women, they’ve been proven to work for us all,” Mertz said.

Mertz said that her goal in life was to leave a different legacy, one which embodies the ATHENA Leadership Model, and it is through conferences such as the ATHENA Connections Conference that she hopes this goal will be realized.

Students who have attended previous conferences have spoken highly of the event’s ability to motivate attendees to do more for themselves and the community. The event facilitates bonding between those attending, and the different pillars of leadership are accentuated, giving students time to reflect on which pillar means the most to them.

The conference will occur on Tuesday, March 10 at 5:30 p.m. in the Grand River Room. For more information or to RSVP, visit www.gvsu.edu/women_cen/module-event-view.htm?eventId=9085B3F8-0141-E5A7-C5BDA58EC2B709E0.