By Brenda Brumfield—
MUNCIE, Ind.— The 67th Class of the Academy for Community Leadership recognized 21 new graduates at a breakfast event on Thursday, November 11, 2021.
“Each year the Academy for Community Leadership program is offered by the Chamber, in collaboration with Ball State University, to expose upcoming leaders in the community to various topics and people to help broaden their understanding of our community,” said co-coordinator Brenda Brumfield, Communications Director at the Chamber.
This year students learned more about the community through classes focused on education, the arts, religion, history of the community as well as others. Service projects are also a big part of the program. Program participants volunteered at the Muncie Mission, Red-tail Land Conservancy and Second Harvest Food Bank of East Central Indiana.
Among those receiving their certificates of completion are: Hunter Andrews, Navient; Cheena Burtner, STAR Financial Bank; Brock Coffey, Navient; Jennifer Gibson, Northwest Bank; Daniel Gurulé`, Erskin Green Training Center; Teresa Fulton, Navient; Heather Hunt, WIPB TV Ball State University; Dustin Jones, Westminster Village Muncie; Cyndy Kern, IU Health Ball Memorial Hospital; Reenita Keys, Prime Trust Federal Credit Union; Jacob O’Conner, DeFur Voran, LLP; Stacy Olson, Magna; Annette Payne, Muncie Power Products; Sarah Parker, Thrive Credit Union; Marie Scott, Real Living Property House; Rory Simpson, Future Choices; Ashley Slaven, Thrive Credit Union; Kurt Stegemiller, Flatland Resources; Amy Tuttle, The Community Foundation of Muncie and Delaware County; Erin Williamson, Muncie Delaware County Economic Development Alliance; and Caitlin Zink, Ivy Tech Community College.
The class was recognized at the breakfast at Horizon Convention Center where they presented on the service projects they participated in. Following the presentations, Chamber President Jay Julian presented each person with their certificate of completion.
The Academy for Community Leadership is a program of the Chamber and Ball State University and began in 1976 to broaden the participants understanding of the Muncie-Delaware County communities and to provide valuable networking opportunities.
“The Office of Community Engagement at Ball State is an important partner in this program, and Suzie Jones at Ball State is their co-coordinator,” Brumfield said.
