Allen Lima Leadership Executive Director Matt Childers gave the opening remarks at the ALL Class of 2024 graduation ceremony Tuesday at the City Club.
Craig Kelly | The Lima News
LIMA — Since 1989, Allen Lima Leadership has worked to foster collaboration and leadership development among prominent figures in both business and government in Allen County. On Tuesday evening, the program honored its 35th graduating class at the City Club in downtown Lima, celebrating 36 prominent members of the community and the project they are organizing to address a serious issue not just in Allen County but nationwide.
According to ALL Executive Director Matt Childers, this leadership development program has come a long way from its first class 35 years ago.
“When we started back in 1989, we had about 20 folks that went through the program, and there were a lot of men,” he said. “This year, out of 36, 22 were women, so I think, in terms of our workforce, in terms of what we’re doing and in terms of developing leaders, we’re reaching all kinds of dimensions for that, and we’re also reaching demographics that will pull in more people and have a real collaborative effect in the community.”
As with previous classes, this year’s class created a project to address a perceived need in the community, in this case youth mental health.
“We wanted to see what the needs of the youth were in the community, so we reached out to guidance counselors, and they said, ‘We really need help with how to deal with the youth and anxiety. That’s the No. 1 issue we see day in and day out,’” ALL graduate and Lima Memorial Executive Director of Ancillary Services Burlin Sherrick said. “That’s the No. 1 (youth) issue in America: anxiety.”
To combat this issue, the class organized “ENGAGEment Lab,” an educational event for teachers who work with traditional or home-school students from kindergarten to postgraduate studies. The event will feature instructors and mentors from Envision Education Plus providing attendees with needed tools to help equip young people to regulate their anxiety.
“Our project is bringing these mentors here on campus at Rhodes State College,” Sherrick said. “They’ll deal with worry, anxiety and stress. Part of the award from the (Lima/Allen County) Chamber (of Commerce) is to create toolkits for each of the participants to take back to their schools to actually use the knowledge that they’ve gained with the workshop.”
The workshop will run from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 17 at Keese Hall on the Rhodes State campus, 4240 Campus Drive, Lima. Thanks to contributions from Miami University’s School-Based Center of Excellence in Prevention and Early Intervention, the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce and the Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services, there is no cost to attend the event, but it will be limited to no more than 75 participants.
To register for the event, go to bit.ly/4exEfkM.
To learn more about Allen Lima Leadership, go to bit.ly/3ZDniRY.
Allen Lima Leadership Class of 2024
• Deanna Basinger
• Jessica Begonia
• Deanna Bowersock
• Amy Brock
• Seth Ciminillo
• Kasey Corbet
• Garrett Gatton
• Chelsea Hankinson
• Jessica Holiday
• Chris Horstman
• Nicole Hutchinson
• Laura Katterheinrich
• Josh Keller
• Samantha Kerner
• Victoria Kimmel
• Julie Klingler
• Andrew Knight
• Miranda Mayer
• Angela McCall
• Erin Moreno
• Eric Ondrus
• Hallie Ontrop
• Sara Rex
• Burlin Sherrick
• Casey Smith
• Tammy Smith
• Chrystal Snyder
• Greg Sowinski
• Patrick Stolly
• Brooke Taviano
• Nathan Thatcher
• Jennifer Truman
• Cindy Wolfcale
