Follow the leaders

Program prepares high-school juniors to play prominent roles in their communities

Some say leaders are born, not made.

A group of 28 high-school juniors across the Flathead are checking their birthrights this fall as they participate in Leaders of Tomorrow.

The program, initiated as a class project by Leadership Flathead graduate Deb Wilson several years ago, exposes teens to what it means be community leaders while giving them an idea of what it takes to move into their ideal careers.

On Wednesday, their learning experiences focused on arts, media and culture in the north Flathead Valley.

"This lets me see what's in the community," Sarah Clark said. "I've been here eight years, and I don't know about all this yet."

"We're both in Stillwater Christian School and we play other Christian schools," her classmate Megan Fraser agreed, "but we don't (experience) a lot more outside that."

By the end of the day, they and their group knew considerably more about Bee Broadcasting's radio studios, the O'Shaughnessy Cultural Arts Center, television station KCFW behind the scenes, the historic KM Building in downtown Kalispell, the Hockaday Museum of Art, The Museum at Central School, and the Conrad Mansion's pivotal place in the city's history.

As the group trouped into each site, doors that typically are closed to the public were opened to them.

United Way Executive Director Sherry Stevens Wulf, steering committee Chairwoman Nancy Greer and committee member Paula Miller ushered the teens, in a pair of Flathead Valley Community College passenger vans, on the Leaders of Tomorrow tour.

The United Way took over the program last year from the Kalispell Area Chamber of Commerce, which sponsors the young-adult equivalent in Leadership Flathead.

Similar youth programs operate in other cities, such as Missoula, Billings and Helena.

Forty-one students applied last spring for the Flathead's two-year opportunity. After an interview process during the summer, 28 were accepted. At their opening retreat in September, the students from Bigfork, Columbia Falls, Whitefish, Flathead and Stillwater Christian high schools started getting to know each other and their communities.

Their first year is spent exploring how organizations, businesses and civic groups fuel the area's economy and culture.

The second year requires a commitment from each student to serve in a leadership role for a local organization.

000200000EF000000960EEA,"Our purpose is to develop young leaders," Wulf said, "and to expose them to a wide sector of people who are leaders."

They will get a "bird's eye view" of the mix of people and groups in the community, she said, as well as a trip later in the year to the seat of state government in Helena.

"By the time they're done, they get to see a lot of things behind the scenes, to see how things really work."

Guest speakers each month share their experiences in local leadership. Each daylong session has a unique focus - social issues, local government, health care, business and industry, specific leadership skills. The year culminates with graduation in May, with a job-shadowing day afterward.

The opening session last month found them traveling in teams of two to interview local leaders, then report back to the group. The students gathered leadership tips and practiced public-speaking skills, Wulf said, and "were impressed with the fact that these people would take the time."

In September, they also discussed leadership skills, diversity, the interview process and work appearance.

On Wednesday, they reviewed the 10 guidelines they had developed - which included laying a groundwork for mutual respect, including everyone in the group, being on time and prepared, and keeping an open mind and positive attitude.

They got to know each other a little better by breaking into small groups and shuffling one member to the next group as Wulf offered each new discussion topic. She pulled identifying facts from various program-application forms, then asked those people to stand up and let others know who they were.

Then everyone hopped into the vans and headed for Bee Broadcasting headquarters on LaSalle Road.

There, John Michaels, disc jockey for The Bear radio, walked them through the inner sanctum of B98-FM, The Mix, The Monster and The Bear stations - and let them meet the personalities who make it all happen.

They crowded into the studio of Benny and Rob as they talked to a caller qualifying for a Rolling Stones concert tickets giveaway. They chatted for a few minutes, and got some sage advice:

"I'd recommend you'd get a college degree, have something to fall back on," Benny Bee told anyone setting his or her sights on a DJ's career. "It takes a long time to make a living in this."

In Michael's studio, they recorded their group energy as he positioned the microphones and prompted them: "106.3," complete with one participant's enthusiastic squeal at the end, "The Bear," "Montana Country," and a bunch of illegible noise as they simultaneously answered, "What high school do you go to?"

Then, that tour finished, they all piled back into the vans for the ride to their next destination and more education.

At the end of the day, they returned to the United Way conference room, where the teens developed their personal leadership goals to help set a course for the year.

Wulf's hope for each of the participants is that the program leaves a legacy.

"It will make a wonderful resume for college," she said. "They will have some good community service, and it will show they have the experience to continue that leadership in college and the work world."

A second program is starting in the next month or so, she said, called Leadership in Disaster Preparedness.

It will be open to high-school sophomores through freshmen in college. Wulf will recruit applicants from the local schools, including those who did not make it into this year's Leaders of Tomorrow program.

Participants will work with law-enforcement officials, medical professionals, Salvation Army and Red Cross workers, ham radio operators and other agencies as available.

If interested, call her at the United Way office at 752-7266.

Reporter Nancy Kimball can be reached at 758-4483 or by e-mail at nkimball@dailyinterlake.com.