(FTSV & Acer – Leadership & Golf Clinic @ Stanford – Published: 10/02/25) On Friday 9/19, Acer partnered with First Tee – Silicon Valley to bring a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to 40 FTSV middle school girls hosted at Stanford University.
The mission for the “Build Your Leadership Journey” event/clinic presented by Acer was to empower the next generation through sport, providing leadership curriculum, golf instruction and successful professional role models to the 40 girls.
The morning half of the event was facilitated by Maria Horning, Vice President for Leadership Development at Legatum Foundation. She began by leading a section on the following with the help of group facilitators made up of female executives and leaders, several of which were FTSV coaches!
1. Leading yourself
- Knowing your strengths
- Building self-belief (4-step process)
- Growing through what you love
2. Loving the Journey
- Setting goals (process goals & sphere of control)
- Developing grit
- Being kind to yourself along the way
3. Leading Together
- Building belonging
- Contributing positively
- Making a positive difference
Later that morning the girls then had a Q&A session with a stellar executive female leadership panel. Click here to read the bio of the female leaders and the group facilitators.
After lunch the group moved to Stanford’s Siebel Varsity Golf Training Complex. Here the Stanford Women’s Golf Team helped lead golf clinic stations. Once the golf clinic was over, the girls had a Q&A/autograph session with the team.
Last but not least, Acer’s Vice President of Marketing, Richard Black, surprised the girls with Acer laptop workbooks that they got to take home! Needless to say, the girls were over the moon excited.
We can’t thank the following people enough for making this event happen and for including our FTSV participants in this transformational opportunity.
Jennifer Brien
Nicole Lee
Maria Horning
Kyle Gode
Matt Siert
Richard Black
In the training, Maria quoted the following African proverb, “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” To this point, the girls all wrote letters of inspiration to younger FTSV girls. Hopfully their messages will inspire, lift others up, and give others a sense of comfort that they are not alone.
For more information about these opportunities and more, visit Our Opportunities page.
