ENVISION: YOUTH LEADERSHIP SUMMIT

Early this year, the Kearney Area Chamber of Commerce (KACC) and the Economic Development Council of Buffalo County (EDC) joined forces to create a youth leadership summit. The summit was founded on the idea that our students have voices that need to be heard and need opportunities to do so. We wondered how we could bring groups of students together to meet the best and brightest leaders of our community to hear from these students and hopefully implement some of their ideas to encourage these students to either stay in Kearney for college or return after college to begin their careers.

Our mission is for the program is:

We envision a future where our youth can engage, are encouraged to find growth, support, and opportunity within their communities; connect with like-minded individuals, and feel inspired to always continue growing and letting their voices be heard.

The next level for creation of the event was choosing students. We reached out to the principals and leaders of Kearney Catholic and Kearney High Schools to create a secondary partnership. We asked these leaders to help us choose the students based on their content of character - we want to see students in this group who show leadership among other students outside of their GPA. The students who volunteer, participate, and advocate for a better tomorrow. We were pleased to gather a group of students who fit that bill!

Next, KACC and EDC went to work planning the event. Who would speak and who would lead breakout sessions? What can we give the students that would really impact their futures and view of Kearney? We reached out to many businesses, organizations, and leaders and were pleasantly surprised with the positive feedback and yes's that we received!

Our event is planned for April 28th and we cannot wait to report back next month with the results. Our students, leaders, businesses, and both organizations are so excited for the event!

If you are interested in being a sponsor of our event - contact Megan or Stacey at the Chamber or Kelsey or Sam at Economic Development for more info!