YOUTH LEADERSHIP DOES BULLETIN BOARD

Special thanks to the Youth Leadership students who came out Saturday, March 5th to design a bulletin board for the Bainbridge College New Continuing Education Building. 

The theme is "WE ARE WILD ABOUT CONTINUING ED!  The students were Kelly Brooks, Megan Brock, Stephanie Mills, Caylin Walshingham, Bailey Bristow, Caroline New, Clint Edmunds, Gabby Howard and Cassandra Henry.  The students receive two hours towards their community service hours.  WAY TO GO!

THE PRINCE OF PASTA

Jim Gisondi, self acclaimed Prince of Pasta, taught the Youth Leadership Class on Entrepreneurship.  Mr. Jim and his wife, Ms. Linda shared their story about owning an Italian restuarant.  While Mr. Jim took great pride in having his own business, he also said he worked 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to make sure his restuarant was the best.  He said that a lot of hard work goes into running your own business.  He also stated that it was important to have a business plan and gave even more issues to consider about entrepreneurship, such as TAXES!

As a special treat, Mr. Jim prepared an authentic Italian dish, Fettuccine Carbonara!  Can we say YUM YUM!  Jim Gisondi is an instructor for the Bainbridge College Continuing Education Program.  Sign up for one of his classes, you will be glad you did!

PUBLIC SPEAKING

February 28th the leadership class had the opportunity to learn more public speaking skills with Rev. June Johnson.  Rev. Johnson shared some valuable ways on how to improve your speaking skills.  She spoke about diction, posture, eye contact and how to prepare for speaking engagements.



She also spoke on how members of an audience show behave while listening to a speaker.  She said that preparation and practice are two important elements in public speaking.  Rev. June is also a member of Toastmaster, International which is a public speaking organization. 

TEAM BUILDING



Dr. Suzi Bonifay was the instructor for our February 21st class.  Dr. Bonifay stressed the importance of team building and being a good team player.  She divided the class into groups and told them to list as many teams as they could.  She also shared a video about how geese work together as a team.  Check it out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AOBthOPuw2U

The groups were also challenged to build the tallest cell tower using only a set of building tools.

Decatur County Youth Leadership Tours Florida Capitol

Old Florida Capitol



Wednesday, February 23rd, the Youth Leadership Class had the opportunity to tour both the Old  and New Capitol Buildings in Tallahassee, Florida.  Students received a guided tour of the Old Capitol and were able to hear and see the history of  the state of Florida.  A self guided tour of the Florida History Museum was allowed and students were able to explore the state of Florida from pre-historic times to World War II.



While visiting the New Capitol students were permitted to view the Florida House of Representatives and received a special visit from the Sergeant at Arms.  Special thanks to Josh Smith's Aunt Vicky Summerhill for graciously providing the tour and for his cousin Meredith Cannon for taking our photo with Sergeant at Arms Earnest Sumner.



GOAL SETTING AND DECISION MAKING by Sara Margaret Bush

Monday, February 7^th Mrs. Glennie Bench talked with the group about setting goals and making decisions.  She identified several important steps to considers in a decision making process. 

The process included identifying the problem, considering all solutions, evaluate pros and cons, and setting attainable goals.  Mrs. Bench also emphasized the importance of being considerate about others opinions and always listening. 

 The class was split into four groups and given a sample problem. They were asked to use the decision making process to figure out a solution to the problem.  The groups all had creative ideas and came up with helpful solutions.

The class also played a game to emphasize how important teamwork is in reaching a goal.  Each group had to link hands in a circle.  Mrs. Bench put a hula hoop around one person in the group, and asked everyone to make a goal of how long it will take them to move the hula hoop all the way around the circle.  After everyone made a goal, Mrs. Bench timed all of the groups and compared the times to their goals.  After a few tries of this, the class quickly realized it was not as easy as it seemed!

The class learned many important lessons from Mrs. Bench and had a lot of fun.



Industry Tour By Kyle Harris & Sam Slaughter

On Thursday, February 3, the Youth Leadership Class attended a Chamber breakfast at the Charter House Inn, followed by a tour of various industries throughout the Bainbridge area.

To begin the day, a current Steering Committee member received an award for school wide achievement. Tad Young (left pic) received the STAR Student award for Grace Christian. This award is based on SAT Score, and is awarded to the student in each senior class with the highest SAT Test score. For Bainbridge High School, David Golladay (right pic), a Youth Leadership Graduate, won the award. 

After breakfast, the class boarded a bus to begin the tour. Our tour started at Danimer Scientific led by Phil VanTrump. Danimer produces a compostable plastic for use in items such as table ware, film resins, and injection molded materials. We toured their testing location, production floor, and the laboratory. Mr.VanTrump explained the process at Danimer. They produce their compostable plastics using various chemical processes.

Following the walk through of Danimer, we made our way to their sister company Meredian. There we. were greeted by Sean Schuyler who gave us an explanation of the process involved at Meredian, where they use bacteria fed by various oils to produce a truly biodegradable plastic. This plastic is broken down over time by microorganisms in the ground.



 

From Meredian we traveled to Memorial Hospital. Here we took part in a tour of the facilities and a presentation given by Dr. Walker. Dr. Walker gave an overview of the functions of our hospital, followed by a question and answer session. Our tour included the respiratory therapy, women's center, intensive care unit, radiology, surgical department, and laboratory. Upon completing our tour, we enjoyed lunch provided by the hospital cafeteria.



After completing our meal we once again loaded on the bus to go to the new Student Wellness Center at Bainbridge College. We were given a tour by Justin Gravlee. Our tour began with the gymnasium where there is a regulation basketball court set up for college league games. This state-of-the-art gymnasium is equipped with floating floors, much like the gymnasium at the new Bainbridge High School facility. We were then shown the various areas of the new facility including the fully equipped weight & exercise room, game room, food court, book store, aerobics rooms, classrooms, and a computer lab with 50+ computers. We completed our walk through on the upstairs track which is 1/9 of a mile long before boarding the bus for the final time to complete our day back at the Charter House.

Overall the tour was an informative experience that allowed the leadership students to catch a glimpse of the industries and businesses of our community. The students and the steering committee appeared to enjoy the trip, and appreciate the members of the various organizations who assisted us throughout the day.

TEEN MAZE

REMINDER: 

TEEN MAZE IS TONIGHT AT THE COLISEUM STARTING AT 6:00 FOR THE PUBLIC.  PLEASE PLAN TO ATTEND.  YOU CAN COUNT THE TIME TOWARDS YOUR COMMUNITY SERVICE HOURS. 

Appreciating Differences by Michael Jones

On Monday, January 31, 2011, the Leadership Class attended the Appreciating Differences course at the Continuing Education Building. This week the class was led by Ms. Charlotte Howard.

Ms. Charlotte introduced the course as appreciating different people and their different beliefs in our community. At the beginning she had the class compare and contrast McKenzie and Meredith Conder. The class named many different observations about them, but found it was harder to name the similarities.

Later on during the course, Ms. Charlotte told the story of "Who Moved My Cheese." The characters Hem, Haw, Skip, and Scurry were played Michael, Gabby, Christina  and Blair.  Ms. Diane was the Big Cheese and  Clint was the New Big Cheese. The class learned from the story that if you appreciate the differences of people and accept change then it will cause less trouble and take you further in life.



At the end of the course, the class separated into five different groups, and Ms. Charlotte assigned them to each make a different version of the songs "Happy Birthday", "Row your Boat", or "The Barney Theme" with musical instruments. The groups were very creative and worked very well together.

The class was also given their volunteer hours sheet and were informed more of the Chamber of Commerce breakfast on Thursday February 3, 2011.

The Etiquette Class by Stephen Dunn, Jr.

One of our first leadership classes was an etiquette class taught by Mrs. Marlene Free.  We were given the wonderful opportunity of attending a small gathering at the home of Dean and Marlene Free.  There we learn how to dress appropriately for various social ocassions, as well as, what topics were acceptable to discuss.  We even learned how to properly use a place setting when invited to dinner and how to use the proper utensils when you have to serve yourself.  



Later, we learned how to hold your plate and drink while standing and conversing at the same time. The etiquette class was great, I thoroughly enjoyed being there.  Everyone should know at least some basic etiquette.  This skill can greatly improve your chances of being successful in life.  People are always watching what you do, so allow your everyday actions to be impressive, and learning proper etiquette is one simple way to achieve that goal.

BINGO with the Humane Society by Justin Maxwell

Friday evening, January 28th, I had the privilege of attending the Bingo Night Fund Raiser for the Decatur County Humane Society.  The event was well attended by many members of the community.  Ms. Charlotte was presented a plant and balloon for being selected as the Decatur County Woman of the Year.  Several members of the Decatur County Youth Leadership Class participated in the event as well.  There were many styles of Bingo played during the evening.  Black out, X across, and letters of the alphabet were used to fill the cards in hopes of winning prizes.  Participants enjoyed a hotdog buffet, too.  The proceeds from this event will help with the operating expenses of the animal shelter.

FAMILY CONNECTIONS AND COMMUNITY ISSUES by Jennifer Voyles

Held at the Continuing Education Building, the Monday, January 24 Leadership class was a great success.  Guest speakers Ronnie Burke and Chad Bennett spoke on family connections and community issues. 

Mr. Burke provided statistics and informed students of ways to get involved in the community in order to combat issues which need addressing such as: domestic violence, drug abuse, the illiteracy rate, teen pregnancy, poverty, and disabled residents of Decatur County, among many others.  Mr. Burke's presentation was factual and informative, as he provided students with eye-opening reports of particular community issues from the past few years.  Suprisingly, the illiteracy rate in Decatur County is roughly 40%, an overwhelming statistic meaning nearly half of all residents of Decatur County can neither read nor write. 



Sgt. Chad Bennett spoke to the class mainly about drug and substance abuse.  Sgt. Bennett is actively involved in the fight against meth and warned students of the devastating effects that meth can have on the body, even after only one use.  The students applied their newly-acquired knowledge of meth and the dangers it entails as they viewed numerous METH ads on the internet.  Though the ads were extremely realistic, they provided the students with an actualization of the harmful effects one bad decision can bring. 

Students also received  "Field Trip Permission Forms" which must  be signed by parents and teachers in order to participate in the February 3rd Industry Tour. Forms should be completed and return by Monday, January 31.

Students:  Remember that you are required to serve (5) volunteer hours, but are permitted to do as many as you please!  The student with the most service hours will receive $25 in Bainbridge Bucks. 

See you next week, January 31 at Continuing Ed! 

The RETREAT by Jennifer Voyles

I can say I am honestly still sore from the game of partner tag we played at the retreat, and I think all the students can say that they are experts at the spider web now.  Mr. Greg makes the retreat so enjoyable, while making it his mission to see that all the students are actively engaged and strengthening their leadership potential.

          

The Youth Leadership Steering Committee by Jennifer Voyles

Youth Leadership Steering Committee:  Kyle Harris, Christina Greene, Sara Franklin, Tad Young, Josh Smith, Abbey Smith, Sara Margaret Bush, Michael Jones, Jennifer Voyles, Ann Reynolds,Gabby Howard, Adam Anderson, Sam Slaughter, Taylor McDonald, Stephen Dunn

As a participant in the Decatur County Youth Leadership Class of 2010, I was chosen to be a part of the Steering Committee this year and have thoroughly enjoyed planning and coordinating events and activities for the Leadership Class of 2011.  As a member of the Steering Committee, it is my responsibility to ensure that things are running smoothly and without delay, assisting in any way that I can.  Though I am supposed to be helpful in all ways possible, Steering Committee members were not allowed to participate in games or to aid the students in any way while they strategized and worked together at the retreat.  It was difficult to refrain from giving the students my advice or input, but in doing so, I was able to see true teamwork and cooperation at its finest.  The Leadership Class of 2011 consists of a mixture of students—some more outspoken than others, some more reserved—but the students really seemed to have found a common ground and meshed well together.  They made me proud.

Youth Leadership Class of 2011 by Jennifer Voyles

The Decatur County Youth Leadership Program is designed to develop leadership skills, offer interaction opportunities in our county, and increase awareness of community issues, needs and resources. 

Students chosen to partake in the various events and activities that the leadership program offers were nominated by teachers, family and friends.  Each nominee was required to complete an application and write an essay on "Why I should be chosen to participate in the leadership program?" The class was selected by the Youth Leadership Steering Committee.

Congratulations to the following students who were selected for the Leadership Class of 2011:  Alyssa Bardwell, Diamond Bouie, Bailey Bristow, Megan Brock, Kelly Brooks, Bernard Burke, Jr., Lauren Carraway, Meredith Conder, McKenzie Conder, Savannah Cook, Will Dozier, Dustin Eakin, Clint Edmunds, Marc Fleetwood, Shelby Gordon, Natasha Green, Cassandra Henry, Devin Hubbard, Jackson Jones, Justin Maxwell, Justin Maxwell, Bryceson McQuaid, Stephanie Mills, Kristen Monson, Caroline New, Blair Nix, Evan Rentz, Morgan Rogers, Austin Rowe, Joedaycya Sanders, Noah Thorn, Ashley Waddell, Caylin Walsingham, and Emily Ward.