The Burlington County Women’s Advisory Council and the Burlington County Board of Chosen Freeholders host an awards ceremony every year honoring women who have made a difference in the Burlington County community. The council annually honors women who have made significant contributions and have demonstrated support for other women through mentorships, education, law and community service, among many other subjects.
Rosie Lloyd-Slifkin, a senior at Delran High School, is one of the recipients who will be honored on Tuesday, June 11 at The Merion in Cinnaminson. She will receive the Celeste Arties Memorial Award and a $1,000 scholarship for her various activities in both school and her community. These activities include interning for Congressman Andy Kim, becoming a student representative for the board of education and advocating on behalf of women.
“It feels awesome and it really means a lot to win this prestigious award,” said Lloyd-Slifkin. “Since I am such an advocate for women and I feel so strongly about women’s issues, it’s amazing that I get to be honored with so many other great women.”
“My enthusiasm about women’s issues really stems from my mother and my older sister,” she continued. “Just being in the house with them and hearing them talk about women, the conversation really changed from just talking about to saying, ‘OK now that we know the issue, how do we go about fixing it?’”
When Lloyd-Slifkin entered high school, the conversations she had with her mother and sister led her to wanting to have a voice on things that impacted not only herself, but her school district as well. This desire left her to seek a position on the Delran Board of Education as a student representative.
“When I was a freshman, I would attend some of the board of education meetings when my friends or someone I knew was getting honored,” said Lloyd-Slifkin. “From that first moment, I always had my eye on that student representative seat, and when I got the chance, I went to go speak to some teachers to see how I could get involved.
“I really enjoyed those opportunities to be in important conversations that were going to impact the students in the district,” she continued. “Some of those conversations that I had a voice in were things like interviewing candidates for all of the schools. I was also involved in a specific conversation about the amount of exchange students that were in our schools. I suggested that these students should be able to embrace everything that Delran has to offer, but it would also give the opportunity for the residents of Delran to embrace a different culture and learn perspective.”
The next step in her advocating career came when she was able to intern for Kim and work on his congressional campaign. She started as a finance intern helping with fundraisers and contacting potential donors to share Kim’s story. Shortly after, she was offered a job as an assistant to the campaign’s financial director. By the end of the race, she had developed an even greater passion for politics and set her sights on majoring in political science at the University of Minnesota.
“I love my time working Congressman Kim,” said Lloyd. “It was one of the most inspiring things I’ve seen. I come from a family that is very politically oriented so I’m really excited to attend the University of Minnesota because they have such a great political science program.”
