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"Whether or not you're ready to carry the ball, it's coming at you," Toby Buck said as he lobbed Nerf footballs in the unsuspecting - and unprepared - crowd.
Buck, president and CEO of Paragon Medical Inc., was the key-note speaker at the graduation of the fourth class of the Kosciusko Youth Leadership Academy Wednesday night at Center Lake Pavilion.
Donning a Notre Dame baseball cap, Buck said he was there to coach the high school juniors and offered plays in the game of life that would continue them on their endeavors to become leaders.
Quoting from the book "The Practice of Management" by Peter Drucker, Buck told the group of 95 students, their families and school administrators: "Leadership is of utmost importance ... (but) cannot be taught or learned." That statement, he said, is one of those "things that make you go 'hmmm.'
"Today, technology has changed the core of the game," Buck said, adding that it is the application of the thoughts that have been "thunk" by many men and women before us that makes the role as a leader different. The fact that technology has created a borderless world and a nearly borderless economy, Buck said, places a need on effective leadership.
"Leadership is a commitment to achieving goals ... the challenge to carry the ball of life," Buck said. "You have been identified as potential leaders," he told the students. "Now it's your turn to carry the ball."
Buck said that today's leaders need to listen, facilitate and understand. "Business leaders are ignoring fads and going back to the basics," he said.
The 38-year-old entrepreneur told the teens to set their standards high and keep them high. "All individuals are not blessed like the 24 graduates from this program," Buck said. "Not all individuals can lead ... we need leaders for the next generation." He encouraged the future leaders to hone and define the tools they have been given and to keep trying to better themselves.
Following presentation of graduation certificates, KYLA moderator Tony Ciriello offered closing comments.
Referencing a letter to the editor which recently appeared in the Times-Union, Ciriello commented that the KYLA students are not teen-agers to be looked down upon. The letter, written by a teen, complained of the treatment of teens by the older generations which look down upon youth, and told of the fact that today's teens are tomorrow's future.
"People are going to look up to you," Ciriello told the students. "You are proven leaders in your schools. You now need to enhance that knowledge for the future."
KYLA was organized with the purpose of developing leadership skills in youth and is believed to be the only such group in Indiana. It was created through a White Paper Project in Kosciusko Leadership Academy - the adult version of the program - and will begin its fifth session this fall.
Students meet once each month for nine months to learn about the workings of the community and must also perform community service. The final session of KYLA, called Project Proud, is a presentation by the students of the projects with which they chose to work. This year's topics included reinstatement of the SADD chapter at Triton High School, working with the American Red Cross blood mobile, updating the list of service clubs in Kosciusko County and volunteering at Bowen Center.
Receiving graduation certificates were: Heather Barron, David Bradford, Justin Grubbs, Emily Robinson, Lorna Unterbrink and Jennifer Weissert, all of Triton High School; Eve Boggs, Corrine Law, Jill Olson, Rebecca Simons, Kelly Walters and Doug Wiley, all of Tippecanoe Valley High School; Ashlee Bouse, Laci Cleveland, Scott Davison, Cody Dininger and Clay Reagan, all of Warsaw Community High School; Christopher Boyts, Wawasee High School; and Jenny Bruhler, Mindi Chandler, Colleen Crist, Gwendolyn Deneve, Macy Staller and Robbie Vandewalle, all of Whitko High School.
The KYLA board of directors for 1997-98 will be: Karen Bender, president; Peggy Terhaar, vice president; Beth Czuba, secretary; Christy Price, treasurer, Barb Goslee, selection; Carl Lauster, public information; Pam Brower, special events; Joyce Parcell and Mike Szymanski, curriculum; Dean Golden, fund-raising; Coral Amspaugh, advisor; Steve Foster, KLA liaison; and Ciriello, moderator. Also, two students are chosen from the class each year to serve as at-large board members. They are Walters and Boyts.
