Forum focuses on the health of young women

Over four hundred teenage girls are expected today at Drake University in Des Moines for a festival that focuses on young women’s health. Iowa First Lady Christie Vilsack held an essay contest to decide what to focus on during the conference, and Vilsack says what the teenage women wrote surprised her.The conference will cover sexually transmitted diseases, suicide, eating disorders, safe body piercing, fake nails and body tattoos. Lee Konfrst helped organize the event. and says this festival follows one last year that targeted maturing women. He says they got 100 essays back and chose the authors of 26 of the essays to be on an advisory panel.Self-image came out as the overwhelming theme that the women felt needed to be addressed. Konfrst says the festival will feature a variety of topics dealing with a woman’s self image.The conference begins at 8 a-m at the Olmstead center at Drake University. Konfrst says you can register at the door.