Starting its second decade, program has 21 students
Published in the Jan. 22, 2014 issue of Morgan Hill Life
By Staff Report
Leadership Morgan Hill class of 2014 at orientation meeting Jan. 6
The Leadership Morgan Hill program’s class of 2014 began its nine-month course with an orientation meeting Jan. 6 where the 21 members of the class introduced themselves to each other as they were introduced to the various components of the program.
The class is made up of local people ranging in age from 27 to their 60s, said Theresa Kiernan, facilitator for the program. Occupations range from geologist, librarian, police officer, insurance sales representative and health care.
“I’m just really excited about the caliber of people who are in here,” Kiernan said. “We have a person in this class that represents a different career. I don’t know if we have that in every class. There seems to be an overlap sometimes, but it was pointed out to us that everyone here is from a different occupation.”
This year’s class is made up of Peter Anderson, Roberta Campbell, Sally Casas, Irene Chavez, Kathy Garcia, Sandra Habr-Schuman, Bill Haskell, Lynda Kaufmann, Julie Klem, Susan Krajewski, Charlene Tsao Lai, Edward Machado, Peggy Martin, Janis McDonald, Cecelia Ponzini, Edward Prichard, Mario Ramirez, Robin Shepherd, Peggy Tomasso, Judy Viegas, and Ken Williams.
This is the first class that Kiernan has served as the facilitator for Leadership Morgan Hill. A 2007 graduate of the program, she started the class members with icebreaker activities that helped everyone get to know each other better.
The program’s board structured the curriculum for this year’s class to weave all the elements of local leadership into one broad picture, said Lorraine Welk, president of Leadership Morgan Hill’s board of directors.
“We’re more seasoned as a board,” she said. “We’re just energized and excited about this class and we want to make this a good experience for everyone.”
From his observations on orientation night, 2014 class member Edward Prichard was impressed by his classmates as well as the quality of the program.
“Our facilitator, Theresa Kiernan, obviously has a lot of wonderful leadership qualities,” he said. “The class itself is a collective group of dynamic leaders in the community. They have a powerful vision of how they see Morgan Hill coming together as a community.”
Prichard sees himself growing both personally and professionally during the nine months he will go through the program, describing his philosophy of leaders having “faith and belief” in themselves.
“If you have faith, then you believe in something that’s beyond yourself and I think that’s what makes up a great community leader,” he said. “And when you’ve got those visionary leaders, you can do anything in a community.”
