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Leadership students share ideas at graduation
back row: Paul Barnett, Ryan Harpole, Ken Etherton, Breann Jones, Harley Hinshaw, Rachel Kimbell, Alex Simmons, Makenna LeBlanc, Marina Guess, Johanna Fuller, Front row: Sidney Harrison, Jessica Cooley, Jasmine McClain, Stefanie Gore, Cayce Brockwell

Ken Etherton of River Team follows powerpoint

(Clinton KY May 5, 2012) – Sixteen high school sophomores graduated from the Hickman County Chamber of Commerce Leadership Program on this sunny Sunday afternoon. All students received certificates of participation and medallions which they will be able to hang on their graduation gowns a scant two years from now. 

Four students also received $50 in cash each for their research and presentation of a study topic assigned at the beginning of the school year. Three judges from the community evaluated team presentations on issues related to the county. Student topics this year were on area medical issues, youth needs, the Mississippi River and marketing the county.

Over the course of the year, students visited local businesses and industries, spent work days on their topics supervised by the three leaders of the program: Ivan Potter, Melissa Goodman and Beverly Hopkins. This year’s program narrowed its focus to provide students with experiences more closely related to their research issues.

All of the presentations impressed the judges. Local attorney Jason Batts, a Hickman County High School graduate, who recently returned to the area to practice law, told students that the scoring was “very, very close.”

In the end, there could be only one winner and that honor went to “The River” team. In their research paper and their powerpoint presentation, the team urged retiring state Senator Ken Winters to push for “a basic port on the Mississippi River” and an extension of the four laning of Highway 80 which now ends at Mayfield. Students predicted that those two moves would “help our unemployment rates, possibly giving hundreds of people jobs, and it would bring business and barges into Columbus.”  

Winters responded to the presentation that he was in favor of expanding the highway. He also would like to see a new interstate now on the drawing board come through the river counties. The question is finding the money available.

Other teams also had new ideas that struck a chord with the 100 parents, friends and elected officials in attendance.

The “Medical Wellness of Hickman County” team carefully laid out the resources available and recommended that a vision clinic locate in the county seat. That got the attention of Dr. Tonya Batts, an optometrist who lives in Hickman County and has clinics in Mayfield and a small clinic in Fulton.

“That surprised me.” She said. “I didn’t know they would come up with that idea.”Ken Etherton, Jessie Cole, Makenna LeBlanc, Johanna Fuller

The Youth team was thrown a curve when the site they had pinned hopes on for a teen center was taken off the market. The students had hoped that they could turn the Arbor Place Nursing Home into a facility for their age group. Fortunately for the community and unfortunately for their presentation, Arbor Place is under new management and plans to reopen.  The students demonstrated flexibility when they chose a second option – the family center at the First Assembly of God Church, where the graduation was being held. Marketing’s team will see the longest effect of their presentation. A logo designed for their presentation so charmed school officials that it will be adopted for the school letterhead. County Judge Greg Pruitt also expressed interest in using the student produced banners in marketing Hickman County.

The students came up with the “Someplace Special, Hickman County” as their tag line and illustrated it with four panels, illustrating agriculture, education, the River and community.  The students also recommended creating a brochure that would create interest for tourists and potential new residents.

Marketing credited their ideas to a meeting with Mayfield Mayor Teresa Cantrell. In their research paper, they wrote “From meeting with the mayor of Mayfield and speaking to her about the logo, we learned that you want to catch the feel of the town in the logo by incorporating the key aspects of the town.”

This is the first year that sophomores have participated in the leadership program. In past years, only juniors and seniors had the opportunity. With the creation of Falcon Academy, the early college program and the testing that juniors must endure, sophomores became the students of choice. It was not a decision that met with universal delight.

In making the change, this year’s juniors were not allowed to apply to the leadership program. Superintendent Wilson told the crowd Sunday that a group of ten students, seniors in the 2012-2013 school year, came to school officials and demanded a chance to be in the program. He said they would be worked into next year’s program.

The Leadership Program is in its third year of operation. It is supported by funds from community partners, government and the school system. The program is provided at no cost to students.


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