Project funded by donations from local businesses, non-profits and the sale of brick pavers
By Mark Matthews
Leadership Morgan Hill, a leadership training program designed to educate and inspire its residents for community leadership and volunteer service, is proud to announce the 2022 graduating class project promoting our caring community and road safety.
This three-part project evolved from brainstorming sessions that identified 22 great ideas to benefit and enhance the Morgan Hill community. Over nine months, this year’s class worked together to develop, fundraise, design, and promote the project from inspiration to final execution.
The final project includes three important parts; two large signs being erected with one placed at the north and one at the south end of Morgan Hill welcoming visitors; 15 street signs designed and installed throughout town promoting safety for drivers, cyclists and pedestrians; and an educational component focused on promoting auto, cycling and pedestrian safety, where class members spent many hours at Morgan Hill events like the Friday Night Music Series to hand out bicycle reflectors, maps of MH bike trails, and stickers. Safety information will also be shared with all Morgan Hill Unified School District students and families.
“We all agreed that Morgan Hill is a warm and caring community. Creating safety signs and educating the community about sharing the roads in a safe and respectful manner seemed like a great way to add value to our great little city. Being from a cycling family, road safety is close to my heart so seeing this project come to life is very gratifying. Also, those of us who live in Morgan Hill welcome others to enjoy what our city has to offer and creating the new welcome signs at each end of Monterey just adds to our overall “Morgan Hill Cares” campaign. It was a pleasure working with such a passionate and dedicated group of individuals who wanted to give back to the community. We are happy that we could implement three of over 20 great ideas into our one complete project” said Michele Tellez, Class of 2022 President.
The entire project was funded by donations from local businesses, non-profits and the sale of brick pavers that will be installed at the base of the two new “Welcome to Morgan Hill” gateway signs, located at the north and south ends of town. The class worked very hard to raise funds, prepare and receive approval of designs, work with a developer and initiate the installation.
Leadership Morgan Hill is a non-profit organization dedicated to teaching community members the ins and outs of how city, county and state government work on a day-to-day basis. Through a visit to the State capital and meetings with local government, business and community leaders, each class learns about these government processes, people and services and completes a class project that benefits the community outside of the course studies.
“Being one of the 23 dynamic students in the Class of 2022 has provided me with a once in a lifetime experience. In the past 9 months I have found myself stretched out of my comfort zone in many new and different ways from being more on the shy side to facilitating one of our leadership development classes. Being surrounded and supported by such incredible classmates has made all the difference. It’s hard to put into words how valuable this opportunity has been, and I will continue to use all that I have learned from Leadership Morgan Hill in both my personal and professional life” said Amy Martinez, a member of the Class of 2022.
A graduation ceremony was held Sept. 19 to celebrate the successes and course completion for the 23 members of the Leadership Morgan Hill Class of 2022.
Recruitment for the class of 2023 is now underway.
