Veteran journalist Denby Fawcett will speak at the Leadership Summit, a forum for students and parents, about leadership, her noteworthy career and her latest challenge of climbing Mount Everest with her daughter.

“Fawcett will discuss her experience of climbing Mount Everest and along with what it takes to make one’s dreams come true,” said Director of Special Events, Toni Normand.

Fawcett, who has worked in print and television news, began her illustrious career as one of a select group of female war correspondents in Vietnam during the war. Hoping to follow her then-boyfriend, Bob Jones, and to pursue her journalism career, Fawcett was sent by the Honolulu Advertiser and KGMB to report her findings at the front lines.

In an interview with Honolulu Star-Bulletin reporter Burl Burlingame, Fawcett recalls how the unit commanders would look at her and say, “Nope, you remind me of my daughter. You can’t go with the troops.”

“That was so frustrating. They would never give an excuse like that to a man,” said Fawcett. “”The experience of being in the field gave me more confidence as a person, which gave me more confidence as a reporter. The difference in Vietnam was that women reporters were allowed access to the front lines, and we showed we could handle it as well as the men.”

This past decade, using her experiences and those of journalists with her during the Vietnam War, Fawcett became one of nine authors to co-write “War Torn,” a 2002 novel about the ways in which journalists coped with the daily life behind and at the front lines. In 2010, she retired from journalism, having started at the Honolulu Star-Bulletin and being a war correspondent for the Honolulu Advertiser, eventually spending 25 years at KITV News.

Club and division officers have been invited to attend the presentation on Feb. 19 from 1:30 to 3 p.m. in the Conference Room.

All students and parents will have this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to speak with the legendary Denby Fawcett. Reserve seats here.