Capito Brings ‘Girls Rise Up’ Initiative To Morgantown

U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito visited with Morgantown students Monday morning as part of her ‘Girls Rise Up’ initiative.

Since 2015, Capito has brought ‘Girls Rise Up’ to schools across West Virginia to inspire the next generation of female leaders.

Capito, who is the first woman elected to the United States Senate from the state of West Virginia, said she hopes the group of girls she spoke to at Suncrest Elementary walk away empowered.

“To be confident, to share that everybody has their weak spots and things to work on, and that you can make a mistake and recover from it,” she said. “I just want them to have a very positive look about themselves and their futures.”

Beyond the ‘Girls Rise Up’ initiative, Capito discussed her efforts in the Senate to promote science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) among young women.

“Women and people of color are way under-represented in the state in the STEM fields, whether it’s engineering or technology,” she said. “These are jobs of the future. I work with Jacky Rosen from Nevada to promote STEM, so that [it doesn’t just] start in the high school years, it’s got to start at these early years, because that’s where the interest really grows.”

Capito was joined by Fox News host and former White House press secretary Dana Perino.

“There’s a saying in mentoring circles: ‘You have to see her to be her,’” Perino said. “It basically is figuring out a way for all these young girls to be exposed to all sorts of different women in the different professions that they’ve chosen.”