South Shore Marion County Youth Leadership Team Graduates
July 2006

Marion County Youth Leadership Team 2005-06 members shown at their graduation reception recently are, in front row (from left), Silvia, Flora, Mikala, Danielle, Heather, and Tia. In back row are (from left) Curtis, Debbie, Clay, Johnny, Christian, Michelle, Jesse, and Tyler. Team members not pictured are: Liz, Ashley, Helen, and Mitchell.

The ninth-grade students in three Marion County schools who completed activities of the 2005-06 South Shore Marion County Youth Leadership Team were honored with a graduation reception at the Yellville-Summit School May 16.

Renee Myers, co-chair of the adult advisory board to the youth team, said a highlight of this year’s program was the Ropes Course at the C.A. Vines Arkansas 4-H Center near Little Rock. The director focuses on the skills of teamwork, communication, problem solving, responsibility, leadership, and cooperation. “We feel it is important that the students from the three schools learn to work together as a team. As adults, they will need to work across community lines.”

Leadership team scholarships were presented to one student from each school’s 2003 youth leadership group, now graduating. Recipients were: Westley, Bruno-Pyatt; Troy, Flippin; and Alicia, Yellville-Summit.

Students reported on the year’s monthly sessions and their community service projects to guests attending, including their adult advisory board members, family members and sponsors. Monthly sessions dealt with leadership skills, communications, teamwork, goal setting, decision making and civic responsibility. Several sessions are held away from the schools at area businesses, and students take a State Capitol tour in Little Rock.

Northern Arkansas Telephone Company (NATCO) is the principal sponsor through its charitable organization, the South Shore Foundation. Additional sponsors are the three participating schools, Entergy, and Marion County Cooperative Extension Service. Contributors to events throughout the year also include Everette and Cathy Long, Janell Kirkwood, Arvest Bank, Bank of the Ozarks, First Federal Bank, Brooks-Jeffrey Marketing, Flippin Wal-Mart Supercenter, Gaston’s White River Resort, Harps and Ranger Boats.

Casey Jensen and Justin Hurst of Yellville-Summit school entertained at the event with selections of guitar music.

Students on the 2005-06 graduation team are: Liz, Johnny, Christian, Curtis, Tia, Ashley, Flora, all from the Bruno-Pyatt High School; Helen, Clay, Heather, and Silvia, all from Flippin High School; and Tyler, Danielle, Jesse, Debbie, Mikala, Michelle, and Mitchell, all of Yellville-Summit High School.

To be eligible for the South Shore - Marion County Youth Leadership Team for the next school year, eighth-grade students should apply by June 15. An online application can be found at the South Shore Web site, www.southshore.com/mcyjoin.htm, or students and their families may contact Renee Myers at the Marion County Cooperative Extension Service at 449-6349.

To contact the South Shore Foundation in Flippin, call 1-800-775-6682. The 11-member South Shore Foundation Board of Directors meets quarterly and considers grant applications relating to the foundation’s goals of educational advancement, environmental preservation, and economic development of the south shore region, which includes communities located on or near the south shore of Bull Shoals Lake.