Editor’s Note: Kosciusko Leadership Academy is celebrating its 30th anniversary. This is the third and final part in a three-part series on KLA.
More than 500 cadets have participated and graduated from Kosciusko Leadership Academy since its beginning.
Those contacted had nothing but good things to say about it.
Former Warsaw Police Chief Steve Foster said he was introduced to KLA through Craig Allebach, who was the police chief before Foster.
“At the time, my wife and I were the first married couple to go through it together,” said Foster.
Karen, his wife of 36 years, worked at United Telephone at the time. They were members of the KLA graduating class of 1990.
The White Paper Project Foster and his group put together then was on an emergency evacuation plan for the county using mass transit.
“That plan is still in place today,” said Foster, though it’s been modified over the years.
He said KLA was a good experience, first because of the contacts he made with people in the community.
After being a cadet, Foster served on the board for more than 15 years, he said. He served as KLA’s public information officer, vice president and president.
“I currently help out because I’ve been there so long, I probably have the largest concentration of history,” Foster said.
“The one thing I always remember, having lived in Kosciusko and Warsaw all my life, I was amazed at how much I didn’t know,” Foster said.
While most people know about the orthopedic companies in the area, Foster said, he was amazed then at the strength of agriculture and its impact on the world that he learned about through KLA. With companies in the county like Chore-Time Brock and Maple Leaf Farms, he said, Kosciusko companies really “feed the world.”
Chris Wiggins, Lake City Bank assistant vice president, commercial banking, got involved in KLA through the bank.
Wiggins said Lake City Bank already had a few employees who had participated in KLA and he heard about it through them. KLA advisor Steve Grill also was pretty adamant in getting in touch with businesses in the community to find members.
Wiggins was part of the 2007-08 class.
He said he received just a wide variety of experiences, including talking to people from different businesses and service agencies, hearing different guest speakers and getting to know members from all different organizations to bounce ideas off of.
“I really liked the White Paper Project,” Wiggins said. “Getting out and feeling like you’re doing something for the community.”
With his group, Wiggins’ project involved getting playground equipment for the Baker Youth Club. Working with the K21 Foundation, they picked out two specific pieces of playground equipment. K21 provided funding, and Wiggins’ group donated the prize money they received for their White Paper Project.
For new hires of local companies, Wiggins said, KLA offers them a chance to get to know the community. A lot of business people come to the community from other areas, so KLA helps them get acclimated to the area and find out about the community they will be a part of. They find out what makes the community go, and they get to visit a lot of area companies and agencies.
Kosciusko County Community Foundation Executive Director Suzie Light also became involved through Grill’s suggestion. She was a Cadet from 1994-95, curriculum director for 1995-96 and now is a trustee.
“I grew up here. I’ve been a resident all my life and I thought I knew so much, but I learned so much about our community and its infrastructure” through KLA, Light said.
Her White Paper Project was about the Community Foundation and they use it to this day. “We have recordings about people talking about the Foundation,” Light said.
Foundation Communication and Program Director Stephanie Overbey didn’t grow up in Kosciusko County, so KLA was very beneficial to her to get to know her new community.
“It was a really nice opportunity to network with other people who were at the same place in their career as I was,” Overbey said. “I’m not originally from here, so I learned a lot. Everything was new to me. I learned about the economic base, about orthopedics. One of my favorite things was touring the courthouse and talking with judges about judicial issues in the community.”
She said she also learned about the importance of agriculture to the community as well as companies like R.R. Donnelley.
Overbey’s White Paper Project was on the All-American City Awards. Her team’s project became a finalist for the national award, and the team and a group of area residents traveled down to Georgia for the city award competition. Traveling with Overbey were Mike Kubacki, Angie Ritchey and Katie Hampton.
Editor’s Note: Kosciusko Leadership Academy is celebrating its 30th anniversary. This is the third and final part in a three-part series on KLA.
More than 500 cadets have participated and graduated from Kosciusko Leadership Academy since its beginning.
Those contacted had nothing but good things to say about it.
Former Warsaw Police Chief Steve Foster said he was introduced to KLA through Craig Allebach, who was the police chief before Foster.
“At the time, my wife and I were the first married couple to go through it together,” said Foster.
Karen, his wife of 36 years, worked at United Telephone at the time. They were members of the KLA graduating class of 1990.
The White Paper Project Foster and his group put together then was on an emergency evacuation plan for the county using mass transit.
“That plan is still in place today,” said Foster, though it’s been modified over the years.
He said KLA was a good experience, first because of the contacts he made with people in the community.
After being a cadet, Foster served on the board for more than 15 years, he said. He served as KLA’s public information officer, vice president and president.
“I currently help out because I’ve been there so long, I probably have the largest concentration of history,” Foster said.
“The one thing I always remember, having lived in Kosciusko and Warsaw all my life, I was amazed at how much I didn’t know,” Foster said.
While most people know about the orthopedic companies in the area, Foster said, he was amazed then at the strength of agriculture and its impact on the world that he learned about through KLA. With companies in the county like Chore-Time Brock and Maple Leaf Farms, he said, Kosciusko companies really “feed the world.”
Chris Wiggins, Lake City Bank assistant vice president, commercial banking, got involved in KLA through the bank.
Wiggins said Lake City Bank already had a few employees who had participated in KLA and he heard about it through them. KLA advisor Steve Grill also was pretty adamant in getting in touch with businesses in the community to find members.
Wiggins was part of the 2007-08 class.
He said he received just a wide variety of experiences, including talking to people from different businesses and service agencies, hearing different guest speakers and getting to know members from all different organizations to bounce ideas off of.
“I really liked the White Paper Project,” Wiggins said. “Getting out and feeling like you’re doing something for the community.”
With his group, Wiggins’ project involved getting playground equipment for the Baker Youth Club. Working with the K21 Foundation, they picked out two specific pieces of playground equipment. K21 provided funding, and Wiggins’ group donated the prize money they received for their White Paper Project.
For new hires of local companies, Wiggins said, KLA offers them a chance to get to know the community. A lot of business people come to the community from other areas, so KLA helps them get acclimated to the area and find out about the community they will be a part of. They find out what makes the community go, and they get to visit a lot of area companies and agencies.
Kosciusko County Community Foundation Executive Director Suzie Light also became involved through Grill’s suggestion. She was a Cadet from 1994-95, curriculum director for 1995-96 and now is a trustee.
“I grew up here. I’ve been a resident all my life and I thought I knew so much, but I learned so much about our community and its infrastructure” through KLA, Light said.
Her White Paper Project was about the Community Foundation and they use it to this day. “We have recordings about people talking about the Foundation,” Light said.
Foundation Communication and Program Director Stephanie Overbey didn’t grow up in Kosciusko County, so KLA was very beneficial to her to get to know her new community.
“It was a really nice opportunity to network with other people who were at the same place in their career as I was,” Overbey said. “I’m not originally from here, so I learned a lot. Everything was new to me. I learned about the economic base, about orthopedics. One of my favorite things was touring the courthouse and talking with judges about judicial issues in the community.”
She said she also learned about the importance of agriculture to the community as well as companies like R.R. Donnelley.
Overbey’s White Paper Project was on the All-American City Awards. Her team’s project became a finalist for the national award, and the team and a group of area residents traveled down to Georgia for the city award competition. Traveling with Overbey were Mike Kubacki, Angie Ritchey and Katie Hampton.
