Chamber Celebrates LEAD Bourbon County Class with Graduation

The 2018-2019 LEAD Bourbon County group wrapped up their training with a graduation ceremony at Liberty Theatre Thursday, May 9 at 5:30 p.m. The group consisted of individuals nominated by their employers to participate in the leadership training program called “LEAD Bourbon County.” They have been meeting every month, starting back in September of 2018.

Trainers/Facilitators for the Lead Bourbon County Training were:

Lindsay Madison, Executive Director, Fort Scott Area Chamber of Commerce

Deb Needleman, SPHR, IPMA-SCP, Director of Human Resources, City of Fort Scott
Robert Uhler, IOM, CAE, Community Development Director, City of Fort Scott

Participants in the LEAD Bourbon County Program included –

• Zach Adams, Marketing and Customer Service Manager, Craw-Kan Telephone
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• Kellye Barrows, Culture and Customer Experience Officer, AVP, Marketing, Landmark Bank
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• Thomas Cook, Production Scheduler, Timken
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• Lewis Dunkeson, Site Coordinator, Fort Scott High School (Communities in Schools)
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• Scott Flater, Superintendent, Water Production, City of Fort Scott
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• Daniel Koppa, USD 234 Facilities Director
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• Dustin McClure, Vice President of IT, Union State Bank
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• Virgil Peck, Pastor, Fort Scott Nazarene
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• Allyson Turvey CVB, Group & Convention Sales, City of Fort Scott
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• Hope Workman, SAP Data Clerk, Timken
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• Russ Souza, Director of Advising and Retention, Fort Scott Community College
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During each monthly session the LEAD Bourbon County group learned new techniques and models of leadership, that leadership is not a position but an attitude, and that everyone can lead. The purpose of the curriculum was to stretch the boundaries of thought regarding leadership and to help each individual learn how to get the most out of meetings, individuals, resources, and circumstances.

The past few months the group has also been working on a community project collecting donations towards purchasing park benches for key locations in the area. The group collected a total of $2,687.50, which was enough to purchase 5 park benches for the following locations: three benches in Fort Scott at Riverfront Park and two benches in Uniontown at the Walking Trail.

The LEAD Bourbon County group would like to thank the following businesses and organizations for their most generous donations towards the purchase of these benches –

• City of Fort Scott
• Cheney Witt Funeral Home
• CrawKan
• Kiwanis
• Modern Woodmen Fraternal Financial Chapter 514
• Timken

The plan is to have the installation of the new benches completed by the end of June.