City student attends leadership conference in California

By Kipp Hanley

Published: August 25, 2008

Janeene Griffith has always tried to be different from her older sister Desha.

After Desha played the cello, Janeene, 15, took up the viola.  When Desha was badgered by her mother Carrol to do her homework, Janeene took notice and has been a model of self-motivation.

Instead of basking at the pool or hanging out with her friends this summer, the rising junior at Gar-Field Senior High School attended Leadership University thanks to the nomination by one of her teachers. During the week-long program on the campus of Stanford University in Palo Alto, Calif., Janeene learned valuable leadership skills at the college-accredited conference.

"It was really fun," Janeene said. "It taught me a lot of skills and attributes to better myself."

Janeene also found out she was a peacock. Not literally, of course. It's what animal Janeene's personality most resembled during one of the many exercises they completed.

Janeene said she was labeled a peacock for her talkative, outgoing nature. She could have been a number of animals, ranging from the lion to a koala bear to the multi-hued bird known for its expansive feathers.

Yet she admits that before the conference, she resembled more a deer in headlights than a peacock when it came to public speaking. Carrol said she recognized that despite Janeene's excellent grades --her cumulative grade point average is a 3.77—her daughter still needed to work on her oratory skills.

"That's always been a fear of mine but since I've been there, speaking in front of my peers and stuff has been much easier," Janeene said.

The Leadership University wasn't the only taste of academics that Janeene received the last few months.  She was also selected to participate in the Firespark! Medical Scholars Program at Brenau University in Georgia.

Janeene said the program helped her see what options are out there in the medical field and what she might like to pursue after attending college.

She doesn't know where she wants to attend college but it probably won't be Penn State, where Desha is a sophomore. Janeene clearly has a bright and unique future ahead of her, despite being called "Little Desha" by her older sister's friends.

Her goal for her senior year is to attend classes at both George Mason University and Gar-Field, where she's enrolled in the International Baccalaureate program.

"Once school starts, rather than doing chore work, she'd rather do homework," Carrol laughed.

Staff writer Kipp Hanley can be reached at 703-369-5738.