Flagler County, FL – The teenage years can be particularly challenging, especially when transitioning from playful youth to young adult. Aiming to help young women prepare for the next steps in life, members of the Flagler Sheriff’s Police Athletic League (PAL) are putting the POW! in empowerment.
Hosting the first of a 12-week class called “Empowering Young Ladies”, Flagler Sheriff’s Police Athletic League director Nicole Quintieri was among three of the speakers for the opening night’s ice breaker sharing candid, personal stories of her own youth and how she became a member of law enforcement.
Developing the program, Quintieri says she hopes that her experiences may help others make good choices while establishing a bond with the young women.
“I think a lot of times when young ladies speak to their parents, their parents don’t want to give off the persona that they have made mistakes, they don’t want to let the young ladies know that they’ve done the same or similar things because they have to be strong as a parent, whereas us, coming in here we aren’t in the parent role and we have the opportunity to just be open, honest and vulnerable,” she said.
Also sharing her story, FCSO Commander Althea Civil’s street-smart background and family stories allowed her to convey a message to the middle school and high school age students.
“I wanted to first express to the girls that I’m not perfect,” said Civil. “I didn’t come from perfection, I didn’t experience perfection, I’m not walking in perfection now, but I’m perfectly me.”
“Everything that I went through was designed to get me here but doesn’t have to be their design. They can learn from my experiences,” she said.  “I would like for them to know there are people they can talk to, there are people they can reach out to.”
Each week will feature a different lesson with fun, interactive activities for the pre-registered attendees.  
Quintieri says the two hour classes, held at the Flagler County Youth Center, will offer valuable life skills and lessons for special occasions, led by strong women from the community.
“We have a lot of awesome things coming up,” said Quintieri. Topics will include finance, self-defense, restaurant etiquette, and more.
“We have a lot of strong women in the community coming in, and our goal is to each week, cover a different aspect of life that sometimes gets looked over and is not super comfortable to talk about with your parents,” she said.
“The hope of all of us is that they get some friendships out of this, they meet us, the different law enforcement females, and other females from the community. Even if all they gain is some friendships with some safe adults where they can come to if something happens that they don’t want to go to their parents, at least they know there are people in the community they can be safe with.”
She anticipates offering the program three times a year, and a waiting list has already formed for the second class later this year.
For more information, email pal@flaglersheriff.com.
