Five teams commit to lead community

By Kathy Day

Herald Writer

EVERETT — Five teams of Snohomish County residents celebrated their commitment to community this week at the graduation ceremony for the 2001 class of Leadership Snohomish County.

The event, held Tuesday night at the Everett Golf and Country Club, gave each team an opportunity to showcase their class projects, which ranged from building a computer room for kids in Monroe to linking seniors and high school students in Mountlake Terrace.

Leadership Snohomish County, now in its fourth year in its current form, was created to train people to become community leaders, said Tim Nowliss, incoming chairman of the group and director of community relations for The Boeing Co.

"The people who organized it used to go to board meetings and see the same people all the time," he said. "They wanted to change that."

The program is all about helping people get involved and giving them the tools to be successful, he added.

This year’s class of 28 represented "all cross-sections of the community," said County Executive Bob Drewell, who co-chaired the ceremony with Larry Hanson, publisher emeritus of The Herald.

The class members are selected on the basis of a lengthy application in which they detail their current community involvement and interest in expanding it. They go through a seven-month program that includes seven daylong meetings focusing on various aspects of the community from arts to youth and families.

Once they’ve been through orientation, they split into teams to plan, raise funds for and execute their projects.

The class members’ passion was evident as they presented their projects.

Allen Sharples of the Lakewood School District, who was part of a team that called itself the B.A.G. It Center, helped design and build a computer room for youth at the Monroe Boys and Girls Club.

"It was all about building something for the kids," he said.

The other teams also talked about their projects:

Gold Dogs, New Tricks is setting up a pilot project linking students at Scriber Lake High School with senior citizens in Mountlake Terrace. Their goals are to educate seniors in Internet use and to encourage at-risk students to involve themselves in their communities.

The Magic Inside team set out to bring reading to life by organizing a professional theatrical production for Cedar Valley Elementary School students. After the play, the students will get copies of the book. Ultimately, they’ll turn the program into a workshop at local high schools, which will present the productions.

The Take Time 4 Kids team is setting up a Web site that will launch in March to educate adults about ways they can make a difference in young people’s lives. It will include links to resources and workshop as well as other community groups with similar goals.

The Ride to Recognition team is setting up a rewards and recognition program for teens at the Grandview Community Center that would help take them beyond the bounds of their north Everett neighborhood.

You can call Herald Writer Kathy Day at 425-339-3426 or send e-mail to kday@heraldnet.com.