Junior Leadership of Medina County Announces Class of 2021
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Carrie Park, Director of Junior Leadership Medina County
carrie@leadershipmedinacounty.org 330-721-7118 ext. 3
Junior Leadership of Medina County Announces Class of 2021
{September 29, 2020, Medina County} Junior Leadership of Medina County is ecstatic to announce the class of 2021. For the first time in 18 years, there will be two classes run to accommodate the 74 juniors admitted to the program.
“The response was tremendous this year,” said Carrie Park, Junior Leadership Director.
Students who applied went through a rigorous process last spring that included essays, community references, and even a phone interview. The juniors are from Brunswick, Buckeye, Cloverleaf, Four Cities Compact, Highland, Medina, Medina County Career Center, St. Ignatius, Wadsworth, and Walsh Jesuit High Schools.
“It’s a dynamic group,” Park commented. “They are excited to learn more about Medina County. In the current atmosphere of change and uncertainty, our youth should be where we focus our energies.”
As with previous years, the two classes will take a day each month to explore the county and learn about its history and future. The program got rolling this past August with a visit to the newly planted Prairie and Pollinator Habitat at the Medina County Soil and Water District. They were treated to a tour of McJak Candy Company in September, and they learned about their own individual strengths through a High 5 Strengths test.
While the program stays true to its roots with experiential learning and in-person discovery, it has had to make changes because of COVID.
“We are wearing masks and socially distancing. It was a considerable amount of work this summer to reinvent the program so that we had places to meet and things to experience,” Park admitted. “Many of our tried and true destinations were either unable to accommodate groups in person, or were closed. A lot of creativity was necessary.”
A delightful new activity to the program came with a donation from the Rural Lorain County Water Authority. Without the County Fair going forward, they had a surplus of their promotional yard sticks to giveaway. They donated one for each student.
“We are making memory sticks,” Park said. “Each time we meet, students create a scene on the yard stick to help remember what we did this year. I have some extraordinary artists!”
With or without the memory sticks, we all know this will be a year to remember.
The following students have been accepted into the Junior Leadership Medina County Class of 2021:
Tuesday
Jessica Bisesar
Zach Bohmer
Andrew Chand
Aiden Cogley
Hannah Eckelberry
Stephanie Fox
John Paul Fyda
Charlotte Garant
Abby Habegger
Gavin Hules
Gabi Ilg
Riley Kerber
Sydney Kindrat
Ananya Kompella
Lydia Lanier
Lilly Latkovic
Peter Marinelli
Hannah McLeod
Evan Miceli
Maddie Miller
Kaylee Moran
Nick Nagel
Georgia Nielsen
Sophia Novak
Alex Paliga
Grace Pantalone
Kaitlyn Pierce
Olivia Rudd
Joudi Saadeh
James Scavuzzo
Lexi Sesock
Emma Sielski
Kathryn Siliko
Grace Smith
Faith Webb
Madi Zaccaro
Thursday
Katie Borla
Anna Burns
Emma Bush
Gabriel Byrne
Mia Chan
Jason Darrell
Katie Duke
Anthony Frasure
Alessandra Goyette
Elisabeth Gromofsky
Kaitlin Herman
Eva Hollingsworth
Cassie Hooper
Caden Klein
Maggie Kristan
AnGe Lao
Luke Malena
Lauren Marquard
Ella McNutt
Rachel Murphy
Bruce Newlands
Olivia Ortiz
Sommer Ostendorf
Nick O’Sullivan
Elise Patton
Vinny Pfahl
Natalie Piatak
Ellie Radabaugh
Maddy Silver
Regan Simpson
Leah Stidham
Jackson Stillwagon
Emily Stratman
Nora Sublett
Anna Taylor
Anna Theis
Drew Thomas
Anya VanKirk
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