Junior Leadership Program seeking entrants
By Phyllis Moore
Published in News on August 30, 2015 1:50 AM
A Wayne County Chamber of Commerce program to develop leadership qualities in students is seeking its next class of members, officials said.
The Junior Leadership Program was introduced as a class project of the Wayne County Leadership Program in 1999. The student version was developed to afford high school juniors the opportunity to learn more about Wayne County and possible career opportunities.
In addition to team building and leadership exercises, programs are held throughout the school year, each centering around a different theme -- history and education, health care, business and industry, government and law and agribusiness. Other components have also included Seymour Johnson Air Force Base and the hotel industry.
Over the past 17 years, more than 300 students have graduated from the program, said Janet Brock, director of finance at the Chamber.
"It began with the Leadership Wayne class, and it's been going ever since," she said. "We have been lucky in the last few years. It's grown."
The program is open to all high school juniors attending public, private, home school and parochial schools in Wayne County. Applicants must have a solid "B" average or above and demonstrate leadership in school and/or community service.
The commitment is from October through April, with typically a once-a-month program day.
"The goal mostly for the students is career exploration and looking at different things that might be of interest to them," Mrs. Brock said. "We hope that when they go off to school, they'll return to Wayne County."
Kathy Jones has served as committee chair for more than a decade. She said the program is designed with several purposes in mind -- a heightened awareness of what the county has to offer, its potential job offerings and an opportunity to network with students from other schools and parts of the community.
"We make some effort to have representation from all schools, public and private, and home schools," Mrs. Brock said. "It's a blind selection process."
It has also become highly competitive, the women said.
"We ask for references, activities, participation in the community, an essay," Mrs. Brock said. "It's a tough selection process because these are some really good kids."
"We normally have 60 to 80 applications," Mrs. Jones added.
The growing interest has prompted organizers to increase the class size, she added.
"We were doing about 18 to 20 and because we have two to three times the applications that we have slots for, we have increased it to 25.
"Of course, we're limited because when we tour (businesses) we can't always have a large group. But the business leaders in Wayne County just really open the doors to this program."
Applications have been distributed to high schools around the county and are also available at the Chamber office on William Street as well as online at www.countychamber.com. Deadline for submissions is Sept. 17.
For more information, contact Mrs. Brock at 919-734-2241.