High school juniors graduate from youth leadership program
BUTLER TWP — Twenty-nine juniors from Butler County high schools graduated Wednesday from a program that teaches leadership, teamwork and entrepreneurship — and encourages them to put those skills to work in the county.
The students from Butler, Karns City, Knock, Mars, Seneca Valley and Slippery Rock high schools are the first graduating class of the Butler County Youth Leadership Program, which is run by the Butler County Chamber of Commerce and sponsored by NexTier Bank, Butler County Community College, Slippery Rock University and several other businesses and organizations in the county.
The youth leadership program is the class project of the chamber’s Leadership Butler County class of 2017, which designed the four-day curriculum and raised money to run the youth program for three years.
“We want students throughout Butler County to be aware of what’s available to achieve success,” said Kelly Bailey, the director of alumni engagement at Slippery Rock University. She is also a member of the 2017 leadership class and the leadership board of directors.
Teaching leadership and taking the students to businesses and government offices was meant to show them that they don’t have to relocate to Pittsburgh or Washington, D.C. to have successful careers, she said.
“The program educates the students so they can see what’s available to them in Butler County. They can see the benefits of working and living in Butler County,” Mark Shenker of NexTier Bank said after the ceremony. He is also a program board member and a member of the 2017 class.
Read more about the program in Thursday’s Butler Eagle.
