 With forward pay from Appalachian Wireless, you'll avoid contracts and credit checks while taking advantage of some awesome perks, like unlimited talk, text, and three gigs of data for just $44.99, or with five gigs for a mere $59.99. Forward pay, that's today's Appalachian Wireless. 150 high school juniors from the six schools in Pike County traveled to the East Kentucky Expo Center in Pikeville for the first-ever Eastern Kentucky Strong conference. Eastern Kentucky Strong was envisioned a year ago and brought to life Tuesday as female leaders from around the region and state met with students during early morning work sessions and lunch. There were 18 female state troopers in the state of Kentucky. We had four of those with us today in the presence. The girls were also treated to having lunch with a strong female lady from the community. We also had sessions that were about spending, preparing college, dating, and following their dreams. Eastern Kentucky Strong was created with the hope to instill confidence and ambition in high school females across Pike County. We wanted to have a leadership conference for them and have strong ladies from our community to be represented and to show these girls that they can be anything that they want Kentucky Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes was Tuesday's keynote speaker. She says Eastern Kentucky Strong has a goal she is proud of. Women have played a pivotal role in being here today. The youngest female secretary of state in the nation and my hope is that I can empower others to step up and to really swing and hit it out of the park just as many women before me have encouraged me to do. And these are women that are going to be making a difference not only here in Eastern Kentucky but throughout the state. Each student who attended the conference was given a bag of 17 items to help them feel beautiful. All of the items were donated from different businesses around Pike County. Reporting in Pikeville for EKB News, I'm Shelby Steele.