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Southern Leavenworth County Leadership Development graduates 12 students for 2015-16

By Staff Report - | May 17, 2016

This year’s Southern Leavenworth County Leadership Development Class had 12 graduates.

The students received their graduation awards during a luncheon May 4 at the Bob Wiley Memorial VFW Post 11499 in Basehor.

Class members hail from Tonganoxie, Basehor and Lansing and were recognized for completing the eight-month course.

This year’s graduates were Susan Freemyer, Jack Holcom, Jamie Shockley, Bill Gepford, James Sherley, Emma DeMaranville, Josh Lingo, Lori Wilson, Kendra Otterman, Kimberly Kitchen, Cindy Stewart Grant and Austin Schmidt. Students receiving certificates of participation were Carissa Welsh and Charles Moore. Both will be able to complete the coursework in 2016-17.

SLCLD board chair Shawn Linenberger gave the welcome and conducted introductions.

Shockley, who is the city of Tonganoxie’s assistant city manager, was named this year’s Outstanding Leader. Students vote for a peer who they think is most deserving of the award.

Shockley gave a speech about her experiences in the class and what she took from the leadership course.

Guest speakers were Susan Keim, director of organizational leadership at Donnelly College, who also teaches at Kansas University and is affiliated with the Kansas Leadership Center.

Logan Gauby, international student recruiter at Kansas State University, also spoke at the luncheon.

The class met monthly and did a personality test, visited the Leavenworth County Courthouse, Leavenworth County Justice Center, Lansing Correctional Facility, Tonganoxie and Basehor-Linwood school districts, the Lawrence Journal-World, Wow! Channel 6, the Robert J. Dole Institute of Politics at KU, Kansas Statehouse and the Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site in Topeka.

The class also worked together for a class project. The students opted to gather hygiene products to disperse in kits to Tonganoxie and Basehor school districts and Court Appointed Special Advocates.

At the April class, the students gave a presentation about their project. Some class sessions also took place at Basehor Community Library.

The Basehor Chamber of Commerce and First State Bank and Trust were lead sponsors for the leadership class.

SLCLD dates back to 1990.

Anyone interested in being in next year’s class can visit the organization’s Facebook page.