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Betsy, 17, is a senior at Ashley Hall School in Charleston, South Carolina. She is a member of National Honor Society, Head of Honor Council, Student Body Vice President, a member of Ashley Hall’s Red Choir and Swing Choir, and an active participant in Charleston’s theater community. This year, she was Ashley Hall’s recipient of the Sewanee University Book Award for Writing.

In September of 2010, Betsy was selected to represent Girl Up at the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) in New York City as a teen journalist, reporting alongside top media outlets as NGOs, CEOs, philanthropists and world leaders gathered in one room to turn their ideas into action to solve global problems. Read about Betsy's experience in her blog.

After completing a weeklong internship at the Charleston office of skirt! Magazine in May, Betsy began contributing to the free publication. Skirt! celebrates the many roles that women play at home, in the workplace, and in their communities. Betsy’s work will appear on a page titled “SmartGirl” through January. “SmartGirl” is geared toward a teenage audience and features everything from the pros and cons of Facebook to mean girls.

This past June, Betsy represented Ashley Hall at the National Coalition of Girls’ Schools International Girls’ Forum on leadership and service in New Orleans, Louisiana. While at the conference, Betsy and ten other rising seniors met with GirlUp director Kim Perry and Theresa Herget to discuss the GirlUp campaign. The girls discussed the campaign’s strong selling points and how to better raise awareness about giving High Five’s. In early August, Betsy suggested that Ashley Hall’s Student Council sponsor a fundraiser to benefit the Girl Up campaign. Student Council members were very receptive of her proposal, and they are now in the process of proposing the event to the school’s administration.

An avid believer in Ashley Hall’s motto— “girls with the will have the ability,” Betsy is absolutely thrilled and extremely thankful to be a part of the Girl Up team at the Clinton Global Initiative meeting.