NORTH WEBSTER – The two featured Project Prouds at Wednesday’s Kosciusko Youth Leadership Academy Graduation for the class of 2023-24 were about giving to others.
Food 2 Go raised money and organized food donations to Lakeview and Edgewood middle schools. Team members were Marisol Cervantes Maldonado, Warsaw Community High School; Piper Elrod, Lakeland Christian Academy; Griffin Roe, WCHS; Dayton Sibert, LCA; and Sutton Victa, WCHS and homeschooled.
Victa explained, “We wanted to provide food for both of the middle schools.” She said they chose the project because Boomerang Backpacks go for elementary school kids, but not to middle school students. While WCHS has a food pantry, and students are able to have jobs, the middle schoolers don’t have anything like Boomerang Backpacks, she said. “So we wanted to help provide for both middle schools.”

    Barbara Ridley, the Kosciusko County 2023 Woman of the Year, speaks at the Kosciusko Youth Leadership Academy Graduation Wednesday night at The Owl’s Nest, North Webster. Photo by David Slone, Times-Union
  

The group put 250 paper bags, with flyers attached to them explaining what they were doing, on the front doors of Warsaw residences. They ended up collecting over 75 bags full of groceries, as well as $255, which was split between the two middle schools.
The other featured Project Proud was Warming Hearts, which made and delivered blankets around the county to be handed out to individuals in need. Team members were Amy Brown, Whitko High School; Colton Crabb, Tippecanoe Valley High School; Gabriella Griffith, Whitko; Jetta Hughes, TVHS; Kohen Schipper, Whitko; and Isaac Winters, Wawasee High School.
They raised $550 and spent $250 on blankets. With the remainder $300, they donated that to Fellowship Missions.
“The overall idea of our community service project was to provide warmth and kindness to little kids and adults in different areas,” Brown said. “So what we did was we purchased fabric. ... We would tie them ourselves, and then take them to local fire stations and put on fire trucks, EMS trucks and also other groups in our community.”
Some tie blankets were left untied and dropped off at Fellowship Missions so the women there could tie them theirselves as a free craft.
The other four Project Prouds were Treats for Pups, which made dog treats for the Animal Welfare League; Engineering with Fellowship Missions, which helped brainstorm and plan efficient ways to use a new space at Fellowship Missions; Growing Foundation #2, which carried the legacy of a former group by raising money to buy and plant trees in the county; and Triangle Trinkets, which used upcycled and recycled materials to make toys for children at Fellowship Missions.
The guest speaker for the 31st graduating class was Barbara Ridley, Kosciusko County 2023 Woman of the Year. She talked about her own personal experience in leadership and her involvement in leadership in Kosciusko County and how she got those roles.
“There are several ways that you can acquire leadership. I will only talk about two of those ways, since one is my own personal testimony,” she said. “... So my three points in this presentation, in case anybody here is in speech or taking notes. I have three points: One is, leadership pursued. The second is leadership bestowed. The third is, my road to leadership.”
She talked about setting goals and having ground rules for yourself, habits of great leaders, her mission statement and a verbal version of her own resume.
“Unlike people who pursue leadership, leadership bestowed happens in spite of whatever backseat you might want, however you want to act quietly,” Ridley said.
Her mission statement is, “I will surround myself with good and strong people. I will never quit or give up. I will always show up, and expect nothing in return. I will be thankful.”
The list of things she’s accomplished and/or been a part of include volunteering at The Beaman Home, founded the Warsaw Sewing Guild, partnered with the American Legion in giving stockings to servicemen and women, participated on the board for the Girl Scouts where she ultimately became board president, she works out and studies martial arts, among many other things.
“And, of course, the most wonderful, delightful thing that happened to me was I was chosen as the Woman of the Year. I was invited to the big dinner and as they were reading all of these accommodations, I leaned over to the woman sitting next to me and I said, ‘I think I must know this lady. She’s doing all the same things I’m doing,'” Ridley recalled. “I was so surprised when they called my name. Needless to say, it was just the biggest honor.”
The 2024-25 KYLA at-large members also were announced at the end of the evening as Sutton Victa and Eleanor Schenck, both of WCHS. The 2023-24 at-large members were Elizabeth Heckaman and Senate Shaw.
KYLA is a nonprofit organization that provides an opportunity for high school juniors in Kosciusko County to learn about leadership and become informed about the community they live in. Applications are being accepted for next year’s class. Current high school sophomores are eligible to apply. The online application, as well as additional information about KYLA, can be found at www.kosciuskoyouthleadership.org. The application deadline is May 19.