KEYS Students Attend Michigan Leadership Conference
Posted
Staff Report-
The theme of the three-day Michigan Youth Grantmakers Leadership Conference, attended by two Kosciusko Endowment Youth Services members, Cassady Palmer and Scott Smyth, June 27-29, along with their KEYS navigator, Lori Masur, was "I Am Only One: One Individual, One Community, One Vision".
The Council of Michigan Foundations holds this conference each summer at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor campus, for young people involved in grantmaking.
KEYS is the youth philanthropy program at the Kosciusko County Community Foundation. Its members conduct grantmaking, awarding more than $19,500 in educational grants this past school year. The conference was attended by 160 youth and 40 adult advisors.As part of the conference, a "Great Grant" contest was held, where individual grantmaking groups presented grants they awarded or service projects they completed. Palmer and Smyth presented KEYS' "Read Across Kosciusko County" and it was recognized as one of the top five grants.
"I learned more about myself as an individual and how I work with others at the conference. By participating in BoxCity, where groups of attendees team-built community models, I learned what it takes to create a good community. This was a great conference to attend because I learned so much," said Palmer, a Wawasee High School junior.
Smyth, a Warsaw Community High School sophomore, said, "From attending this conference and being with other young philanthropists, I know when young leaders work together, much can be accomplished for the good of others. This is what we strive to do in KEYS."
The conference attendees left with the following thought - one that serves as a model for KEYS members: "I am only one, but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can do something. And because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do the something that I can do. What I can do, I should do. And what I should do, I will do."
For more information about KEYS, visit www.kcfoundation.org, call 574-267-1901, or visit our office at 102 E. Market St., Warsaw.
