Teen Leadership Montgomery County Focuses on Community, Leadership Skills
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Three years ago‚ the community of Mt. Sterling asked its young people for advice in putting together a “safe night” at a local park. The idea was to provide a drug- and alcohol-free night of fun‚ food and music for area teens. Not only did the evening come off without a hitch‚ but community leaders were so impressed with the teenagers’ input they decided to create Teen Leadership Montgomery County just for them.
Teen Leadership is designed for eighth- through 12th-graders and is modeled after Leadership Montgomery County‚ an annual program in which interested citizens come together to learn more about their community and leadership.
“These teens really seem to care about where they live‚” says Jan Chamness‚ advisory council member for Teen Leadership and public health director for Montgomery County. “And they have good ideas‚ too.”
This is the first year for the teen program‚ and already participants have learned a lot about their community and state.
Before they become young leadership graduates in April‚ they will have toured the sewage disposal and water treatment plants‚ the landfill‚ stockyards‚ and a local farm for the “Quality Infrastructure of the Community” part of the program. On November’s Judicial Day they visited the county court‚ jail and juvenile rehabilitation center. Early in the year‚ they toured many of Montgomery County’s major industries‚ including Hoffman Engineering‚ Chef America and Cooper Tire. They also took part in a Media Day‚ visiting local television stations‚ and they went to Frankfort to observe both the state Senate and state House of Representatives at work.
Perhaps the only difference between Teen Leadership and the adult leadership program is that young participants do not do a community project as part of the program.
“Typically‚ students chosen for the program are bright and already very active in school and extracurricular activities‚” says Chamness. “So we didn’t want to overburden them.”
Throughout the program‚ young people discuss different leadership and management styles‚ parliamentary procedure‚ conflict resolution‚ and what it takes to be a leader. Teen Leadership is about building character and learning how to be a positive influence in the community - all important to future community leaders.
Chamness hopes the program will encourage young people to use these skills locally.
“When I grew up in Montgomery County‚ most of my schoolmates and I couldn’t wait until we could leave for greener pastures‚” says Chamness. “I was away for 18 years; coming back was one of the best decisions I ever made. I hope those who go through this program will learn to appreciate their home enough to stay or come back someday like I did.”
Story by Nancy Hoffman
Photo by Harrison McClary
