Rockwall, TX (June 28, 2024) – The Royse City Chamber’s Youth Leadership program, Emerging Leaders Class, was invited to attend the Rockwall County Commissioners Court on Tuesday, June 25th, and was recognized and honored for the work they did over this past year!
The Leaders, their parents, and family were all invited to attend the presentation where they received certificates of recognition from Commissioner John Stacy.
The Emerging Leaders program has just completed its first year. The program’s goal is to take juniors or grade equivalents from high schools or homeschools in the Tri-County area and take them through a program that teaches them leadership skills, how to utilize the resources in their community and basic life skills. We hope that these Emerging Leaders will use their new leadership skills as they return for their senior year, and then as they graduate and prepare for college or begin their careers.
The 2023/2024 program included the following students, who were juniors at Royse City High School: Ama Agyemang, Aubrey Luna, Brooke Mackie, Rylie Gilbert, Faith Macharia, Gillian Bynum, Kameryn Kennedy, Cade Wagner, Presley Hancock, Reagan Duke, Serenity Martin and Usman Dabbi.
Throughout the past year, the Emerging Leaders have:
- taken personality assessments to learn their personality types and the importance of proper communication with other types of personalities.
- learned about public speaking.
- met with local non-profits to learn about volunteer and scholarship opportunities.
- had a government day, hosted by Commissioner Stacy where Leaders toured the Historic Courthouse, the new Courthouse, and the Rockwall County Detention Center and met with Judge Frank New, Rockwall County Tax Assessor, Kim Sweet, Rockwall County Sherriff, Terry Garrett, 382nd District Court Judge, Brett Hall and Rockwall County Justice of the Peace -Pct 4, Liana Bell Whitten.
- experienced a Rockwall County Historic Tour with Rockwall County Justice of the Peace, Mark Russo, who emphasized the importance of how history impacts the future.
- hosted a Kid Entrepreneur Fair and Neon Night 5K as a fundraiser for their community project.
- began their community project currently in progress – installing upgrades to City Lake Park.
They will start taking applications for the next class of Emerging Leaders in August and will kick off the program in September. They are looking for businesses to support this program through sponsorships or donations. Contact the Royse City Chamber at info@roysecitychamber.com or call 972-636-5000 and show your support for the Emerging Leaders program.
*Thank you to Royse City Chamber, Director of Operations, Christi Hernandez for contributing to the writing of this article.
Submitted by Jim Barto, edited for publication in Blue Ribbon News. Courtesy photo.