Leadership Academy Groups To Hold Graduation Banquets
Posted
Jennifer Peryam-jperyam@timesuniononline.com
Graduation banquets for two organizations that foster leadership skills in young adults will be held this week.
A graduation banquet for the 14th class of Kosciusko Youth Leadership Academy will be Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. at the 2517 Restaurant, Warsaw.
KYLA consists of local high school students and was started by KLA graduates.
There will be 23 graduates honored with plaques at the event, and one group will be selected to present their White Paper projects.
White Papers are papers written by the graduates that focus on the experiences they received in volunteering in the community.
Gib Young will be the featured speaker at the banquet. Young was born in LaFayette, attended Jefferson High School, Purdue University and graduated from Bethel College, Mishawaka.
He is a former signalman in the U.S. Navy, serving eight years on various destroyers.
He is currently a State Farm Insurance agent who has had an office in Huntington for the past 30 years.
A graduation banquet for the 26th class of Kosciusko Leadership Academy will be held Thursday at 5:30 p.m. at Tippecanoe Country Club, Leesburg.
Ron Manahan, Grace College president, will be the featured speaker at the KLA banquet. He will speak about leadership and community roles of future leaders.
There will be 24 graduates graduating from KLA this year who will receive plaques during the banquet, according to KLA President David Findlay.
KLA members are employees who have been identified by their employers as future leaders, Findlay said.
KLA was formed in 1982 when Jean Northenor, executive vice president of Lake City Bank, and Matt Dalton, owner of Dalton Foundries, envisioned a program that would develop leaders with new ideas.
The mission of the organization is to develop informed and innovative leaders who will serve the community.
Since 1982, an average of 25 students has graduated each year from KLA, now totaling more than 600 alumni, Findlay said.
The graduates will present White Paper projects Tuesday at the Lake City Bank Training Center at 7:30 a.m.
Students form teams and research relevant community issues and needs, and write their research in the form of a paper.
KLA conducts sessions each year that give students access to city and government leaders in the county. Classes meet every two weeks at various locations throughout the county for the duration of the school year.
