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Wine and shine: Leadership class celebrating 25 years tonight at Holy-Field

By Staff | Apr 9, 2015

It’s almost here.

The Southern Leavenworth County Leadership Development Class is celebrating 25 years with an event to honor alumni and welcome others to learn more about the organization and join in the festivities.

Alumni, local residents and business people are invited to the celebration, which starts at 7 p.m. Thursday at Holy-Field Winery, 18807 158th Street in Basehor. In addition to bringing 25 years of alumni and Leavenworth County business people together, the event will have hors d’ouevres, a silent auction, raffle and wine available for purchase. The cost of attending the event will be $10 per person and checks should be made payable to Southern Leavenworth Leadership Development Class.

Organizers say they’ve heard inquiries from some whether they can attend if they’re not alumni or planning to apply for the class.

All are welcome, party planners say.

For its final project this year, the 2014-15 class is creating an alumni database and organizing Thursday’s party. Students have sent out RSVP cards that organizers prefer be returned by the end of this week. If alumni have not yet received invitations, they are asked to send a request to Valarie Grant at promogirl@sunflower.com. Others interested in attending also may email Grant. Students are using the database to send out invitations, but if graduates somehow are not yet included, they can give their information to Grant also. The database will be used for outreach to alumni for future events and organization updates.

A secondary goal of the event is to raise money through admission fees, donations and silent auction proceeds so that the SLCLD class can continue its mission of developing competencies and skills that will help students become leaders in business, politics and volunteer organizations in the Leavenworth County area and beyond.

Some of this year’s class members, such as Missy Saathoff, Jeff Clinger, Erin Shorney, Thomas Kusler, John Vohs, Paula Eveland and Joshua Zenger.

The class, which is a joint venture of the Tonganoxie and Basehor chambers of commerce, has graduated many local residents ranging in age from seniors in high school to retired residents. Class members meet monthly from September to May. They also are required to attend a local board meeting, such as city council or school board, and a museum or traveling exhibit. Students then give short oral presentations about both.

Students also are introduced to various leadership activities and field trip opportunities.

Students visit the Leavenworth County Courthouse, Leaveworth County Justice Center, Lansing Correctional Facility, Basehor-Linwood and Tonganoxie school districts, the Lawrence Journal-World, Wow! Channel 6 Studios, Robert J. Dole Institute of Politics, the Kansas Statehouse and the Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site.

Recent final class projects have included a food drive, outreach to senior citizens in the county, as well as a drive that funded the Leavenworth County Fairgrounds sign just north of Kansas Highway 16. The class also refurbished the interior of the 4-H Building at the fairgrounds.

Anyone interested in the event is welcome to attend. For more information, contact SLCLD board member Valarie Grant or inform the group you plan to attend by visiting the group’s Facebook page.