By By Adam Prestridge
August not only marks the beginning of the 2008-09 school year, but also the 14th annual Youth Leadership Atmore (YLA) program.
YLA steering committee members begin preparations in August for the new class, which begins in October, by making applications available to incoming juniors at local high schools. Applications will be available at the Atmore Area Chamber of Commerce office Monday and local high schools on Aug. 11.
Interested students are asked to pick up an application packet, fill it out and return it, along with a reference, a parental permission form and a school permission form by Sept. 5. To qualify, students must be a current junior in high school, have a cumulative Grade Point Average (GPA) of 2.5 or higher and complete the application packet. Interviews will be conducted Sept. 8-9 at the Chamber of Commerce’s office and the class, which is limited to about 20 students, will then be chosen.
A required orientation meeting for accepted students and their parents or guardians will be held at 6 p.m. on Sept. 25 to “summarize the year’s program for students and parents.”
The class will begin with an opening retreat on Oct. 14-15 at Camp Beckwith on Weeks Bay in south Baldwin County, which features many team building exercises and class project discussions. On Nov. 5, the session will be “What’s the Best Way,” which offers the class members information on preparing resumes, interviewing, etiquette and writing “Thank You” notes.
The Law Enforcement &Justice session will be held on Dec. 3 followed by a history session on Jan. 14, education session on Feb. 4 and Government Day in Montgomery on March 4. Session six, which will be held on April 1, will feature business and industry and health and human services offered in Atmore and throughout the county and graduation will be held April 23.
For more information, contact the Chamber of Commerce at 368-3305.