Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category
Happy New Year from Leadership Whitley County!
As we enter 2012, the 11th class of Leadership Whitley County has reached the mid-point of their program. Project teams continue to work diligently in areas such as education, entertainment and community awareness. Class members are attending public meetings to enhance their knowledge of key decision-making in our community. Details are set for the second-half of the program, including a presentation by the Columbia City High School FFA Parliamentary Procedure team in January, where the session topic is Public Speaking. LWC returns to South Whitley in February to focus on Emotional Intelligence, and we wrap up in March at Eagle Tech with a session on Discovering Your Personal Mission. A class celebration will be held in April, where the 2012 Excellence in Servant Leadership Award will also be presented. A new year also means LWC will look foward to recruiting for the next class of servant leaders.
Inclusion, C & A Tool highlight LWC November session
Learning partners Laura Richcreek (left) of Whitley County Habitat for Humanity and Joe Kieffer (right) of Advanced Assembly participate in a blindfold trust activity to kick-off the session.
Leadership Whitley County (LWC) traveled to C & A Tool in Churubusco for its November session focusing on Diversity and Inclusion.
The morning kicked-off with a trust activity involving blindfolds and specific activities. This icebreaker provided an excellent opportunity for class members to reconnect, build trust among each other and recognize non-verbal cues. Following a debriefing of the exercise, LWC participants provided informative and entertaining reports on their county tour experience conducted in October. Small teams visited different locations within Whitley County, pictures taken were assembled in collages and each group presented their tour report as the awareness portion of the November session. A variety of interesting facts relating to Whitley County were shared in the reports. Class members had the opportunity to visit with a variety of individuals during their tour, including staff at AgPlus in South Whitley, Shawn Ellis, Director of B.A.B.E. and Chuck Jones of the Churubusco Historical Society.
The main topic for the day focused on Diversity and Inclusion presented by Merrily Hamp of Organizational and Leadership Development. The program focused on diversity of thoughts, attitudes, assumptions and stereotypes. Class members were asked to discuss diverse characteristics of others we see, as well as those that may not be visible. Participants engaged in a variety of interesting dialogue and group activities throughout the three-hour program, including a privilege walk that resulted in a detailed reflection of the activity.
Following the session, the LWC class enjoyed a catered lunch by Mountaintop Coffeehouse and a tour of the C & A Tool facility by LWC alum and C & A Tool employee Todd Rehrer. The tour included in an inside look at the company’s every day operations and examples of the newest technology the company is using to remain a cutting-edge, successful business.
LWC Class members (from left): Zach Ziliak of Star Insurance, Samara Qureshi of Columbia City High School, Katie Barnett of Whitko High School and Chelsey Barrell of the Whitley County Community Foundation enjoy the discussion on inclusion at the November LWC session.
Food and Wine Spectacular slated for November 3
One of the most anticipated events of the year is just around the corner. Leadership Whitley County is pleased to host the Food and Wine Spectacular on Thursday, November 3, 2011 at 7 p.m. at the Eagles Nest Event Center. Columbia City’s locally owned The Dock has worked diligently to coordinate over a dozen wine vendors who will feature a wide variety of wines to tempt the palate. An array of tasty foods prepared by Chef Stan and Doris Horne will be featured along with specially prepared desserts. Proceeds from the event benefit Leadership Whitley County, the community’s unique adult servant leadership program celebrating its tenth year.
Regular admission tickets for the 7 – 9 p.m. event are $25 per person and will be available starting Wednesday, October 5th at The Dock, J & J Insurance or by contacting Kelley Sheiss at 799-4045. The raffle will return this year, featuring unique wine ornaments from Bronner’s Christmas Wonderland in Frankenmuth, Michigan along with a grand prize of a Coach purse sponsored by J & J Insurance. Raffle bags can be pre-purchased or reserved that evening for $20 each. In addition, all ticket holders will receive a collectable wine glass. Again this year, the planning committee has chosen a unique, “Boston Rocks” style glass for the event. VIP tickets are already sold out for the event.
Unique wine-themed ornaments will be a part of the raffle at this year's event.
Only 200 tickets will be available this year through pre-purchase only, so be sure to get your tickets early for this popular event. Signature sponsors for the 2011 Food and Wine Spectacular are The Dock, J & J Insurance, and J & K Communications.
LEAD photos support LWC program
Looking for a unique and eye-catching piece to adorn the wall of your office or home? LWC is offering these great LEAD prints designed by graduates Jayme Dee and Tiffany Murphy. Only $10, includes a mat. All proceeds support the Leadership Whitley County program. They can be found at the Whitley County Farmer’s Market through the end of September or by emailing info@leadershipwc.org.
Several different versions of the photo are available, with one example pictured here. All photos were taken at unique Whitley County locations.
Dekko Foundation supports Leadership Whitley County initiative
A vision to incorporate young adults as part of Leadership Whitley County, the community’s unique adult servant leadership program, has become a reality thanks to the generosity of the Dekko Foundation. A group of members from the 2010-2011 was inspired to develop a project that would incorporate high school seniors from each of the school corporations to participate in the 2011-2012 program. The project group’s motivation came from feedback that youth desire to be a part of adult conversations and community decision making. The project goals were to launch leadership opportunities to the youth of our community, connect the young adults of Whitley County to its current leaders and have the younger voices of the community heard. The initiative was designed to complement the quality youth programs already present in Whitley County.
The project group worked in cooperation with school administration to distribute applications and conduct interviews prior to the end of the school year. Three lucky recipients were selected: Samara Qureshi of Columbia City High School, Brandi Herron of Churubusco High School and Katie Barnett of Whitko High School. The Dekko Foundation has awarded a grant of $1800 to Leadership Whitley County that will provide tuition scholarships for the three youth participants.
The Dekko Foundation provided the following statement in a letter of grant recognition:
“Adolescence is an important time for young people as they become interested in society and the role they play in the community; begin pondering their purpose in life; and become capable of advanced reasoning. As we considered your request, we could see how your program would allow youth to experience leadership opportunities that encouraged them to build a strong bond with their community, and participate in meaningful roles that would lay a foundation for future economic freedom. We hope that our support will allow you to test your vision of including youth in Leadership Whitley County.”
Currently, there are no other leadership programs in the region that incorporate youth as an active part of the adult program. These three outstanding young ladies will join 18 other adult individuals in their servant leadership journey starting this September.
“I have been fortunate to work with such a great group for our LWC project! Our focus is on empowering, engaging, and educating our future leaders of Whitley County. With this goal in mind, we felt the best direction for our group was to develop a program to include local teens in the LWC program. I think I can speak for the group when I say that we are all very excited to see the direction this program will take,” said project member and LWC graduate Jayme Dee.
Whitko Senior Katie Barnett (center) is pictured with Parrish Kruger, Principal (left) and Rachael LePage, guidance counselor (right), as she is selected as the Whitko recipient to participate in the 11th year of Leadership Whitley County. Joining Barnett will be Samara Qureshi of Columbia City High School and Brandi Herron of Churubusco High School. All three recipients will be supported by a scholarship grant from the Dekko Foundation.
Leadership Whitley County would like to extend their sincere appreciation to the Dekko Foundation for their support of this project.
LWC’s 10th Anniversary Golf Outing – May 22, 2011. Thank you to our generous sponsors and participants!
LWC alum Matt Shipman stares down his putt.
Mark Green, event coordinator, LWC Policy Council member and Columbia City Parks Department Director, takes a moment to relax and watch the teams on the course.
LWC alum Mike Dear takes a moment to check his score with team member Larry Whetstone.
Kathy Sauers of Three Rivers Federal Credit Union and an LWC alum tries her luck at the putting contest.
- Recent Class 10 graduates Tina Houser of LT Foundations Real Estate and Greg Kaminski of JuneStar did a great job navigating the beverage cart!
First Friday Networking
The last First Friday Networking of the season for Leadership Whitley County will be held this Friday, June 3 from 5-6 p.m. at Portside Pizza in Tri-Lakes. Join fellow alums for good conversation and great networking opportunities!
Carrie Hoffman honored with 2011 Excellence in Servant Leadership Award
The highest honor of servant leadership was awarded to LWC Class 9 alum Carrie Hoffman on Tuesday, April 19th at the Leadership Whitley County Celebration. Hoffman, who works for Indiana Wesleyan University, was recognized as the 2011 Excellence in Servant Leadership winner. Nominated by two of her fellow classmates – John Black and Sherry Sausaman – Hoffman was surprised and brought to tears as she listened to excerpts of the nominations.
“What a perfect example of using what she learned in LWC and applying it for meaningful and productive results in improving our communities. I have watched her grow, sharpening her skills and talents in the past year, ” wrote United Way Executive Director John Black. “Carrie could be a “poster child example” of the Servant Leader for Whitley County.”
Friend and classmate Sherry Sausaman of Parkview Health wrote, “Carrie has worked tirelessly this past year for the United Way and Chamber of Commerce. It is evident by her participation in both of these organizations she has strong belief that communities are built both by businesses and community members of Whitley County. This vision of community is demonstrated not only by the work that she does to help promote both of these organizations, but it is displayed across her face with a proud smile. Knowing that the people of Whitley County need United Way funds in order to provide the best services for citizen’s so that they can patronize and contribute to our businesses prosperity. If you don’t know Carrie, I hope you get the chance soon, her laughter is contagious, her passion infectious, and leadership skills captivating. She is an excellent servant leader. She is genuine in her approach and has an inner belief that she wants to make change happen for the best.”
Leadership Whitley County extends warm congratulations to Carrie Hoffman who is quite deserving of this award.
Community Action Team Reports: Young Adult Leadership
The goal of this team was to expand the focus of LWC’s goal to empower, engage and educated our future leaders of Whitley County. With this goal in mind, the group felt their best direction was to develop a program to include local teens in the LWC program. From the start, the team did not want to conflict with the current youth leadership program, but rather enhance servant leadership opportunities for young adults. The following were goals of this project:
-Integrate 3 high school seniors into the LWC Program.
-Launch leadership opportunities to the youth of our community
-Connect the young adults of Whitley County to its current leaders.
-Have the younger voices of the community heard
The team is currently meeting with administration of the three county school corporations to outline the program and garner approval, with hopes of having three students identified prior to the end of this school year who will participate in the LWC adult 2011-2012 program. Benefits of the program include:
- A chance for young adults to have their voices heard by leaders in the community
- A positive representation for leadership for use in future applications
- Draw the youth back to the community.
- Give a younger outlook on what our community needs
The hard-working members of the LWC young adult community action team included (from left): Tammy Nickolson, Passages/Whitley Crossings Neighborhood Corporation; Marla Fahl, Pathfinder Services; Tiffany Murphy, Whitley County Sheriff's Department; Debra Darr, Whitley County Council on Aging; Debbie Lee, Star Financial Bank; Lee Prescott, PNC Bank and (not pictured) Jayme Dee, Parkview Health System.
