Volunteers for Youth from Claremore teamed up with the Tulsa's Shock WNBA team to present the iExpo on Friday.
This one-day event took place from 1:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. Friday at the BOK Center in the 200 block of South Denver Avenue in Tulsa.
The first area event of its kind, the iExpo was specifically geared toward girls aged twelve to twenty years old.
Topics of discussion facilitated by counselors included self-esteem and self-image, dating and dating violence, self-defense, self-harm such as cutting, and remaining free of substance abuse.
Claremore Police Captain Danny Dobbins was present to address self-defense with the girls.
"We hope today to promote self-preservation and good choices, drug- and alcohol-free choices," said Mendy Stone, Executive Director of Volunteers for Youth.
Stone was pleased that as many as fifty girls attended the first annual iExpo.
"There are so many choices that they have to face that I don't believe I faced," said Stone, "and different avenues for bullying, for instance with the cyber-bullying."
Stone hoped that with alcohol and drugs being so prevalent in peoples' homes that the iExpo would be able to promote the message that things can be different for these girls.
With the girls "...just being informed, being aware, knowing that they are in charge," Stone said, "that they can face these situations because they're the ones making the decisions to be safe."
For more information on topics covered at the event, parents may call 918-343-2530.
The $10 admission included the evening's WNBA basketball game between the Tulsa Shock and the Seattle Storm.
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