This story was originally published by News 4 Tucson, KVOA.

The 18th annual ‘Running and Winning’ workshop took place Thursday. It’s an all-day event that gives high school girls the opportunity to learn what it takes to win and hold office.

It was put on by the League of Women Voters, American Association of University Women, and the YMCA - and it focused on teaching young women how to run a campaign.

This year, women hold 25 out of 100 U.S. Senate seats, 125 out of 435 U.S. House of Representative seats, and around 31 percent of state offices. Raising these numbers is a hope of this workshop.

“We need to instill in young girls the opportunity and value of seeing themselves in these roles,” said Victor Bowleg, President of the League of Women Voters.

These girls get the chance to run their own mock campaigns while hearing from women who hold public office in our community.

“When the road gets a little difficult, you can look and say, hey here's a woman in this position that has inspired me to get to where I want to get to,” said Bowleg.

“It’s cool. I'm gonna hear how confident they are, and how freely they are able to express what they wanna say,” said Lizzy Korchmoras, a student participating in the event.

To be clear, it’s not about Democrats and Republicans. This event will teach these girls how to speak on issues that matter to them and overcome gender barriers in politics and any career.

“I think that women can do whatever they want! Like if you want to join the navy, or do all the stuff that guys do, you can!,” said Korchmoras.

Each year this event rotates to different schools so a new group of young women can be empowered year after year.