Last week, twelve members of the Barton County Young Professionals group completed a proprietary leadership workshop entitled “Future in Focus”, which was designed to help participants set personal and professional goals for the year 2020. The event was sponsored by The 10th Street EyeCare Center, and was facilitated by Troy Unruh with the Kansas Leadership Center.
“The Young Professionals program is well-known for its quarterly mixers and social events where members gather for free food and networking,” says Rachel Mawhirter, Marketing Director for the Great Bend Chamber of Commerce & Economic Development. “But our group has three goals, and networking is only one of them. The other two are leadership development and giving back to the community.”
To achieve the second of these three goals, the half-day workshop on Sept. 25, allowed YP members to step back from their everyday lives and look to the not-so-distant future. Some participants set goals for getting out of debt. Others are striving to achieve a promotion. But the overwhelming theme for the event was personal growth.
“One of the activities during the workshop involved making a timeline, both past and present, and seeing how our lives overlapped and what themes brought us to Central Kansas,” Mawhirter says. “Over and over, we heard words like ‘opportunity’ and ‘family’ and ‘future.’ These YP members have chosen Barton County for a reason, and are vested in its future success.”
Each participant was asked to set a personal goal for the year 2020, and work backwards from there to create a manageable timeline for achieving that goal. Participants who completed the exercise received a special certificate and recognition with their employers and the other BCYP members. These participants included: Amanda Davis, CUNA Mutual Retirement Solutions; Felicia Davis, CUNA Mutual Retirement Solutions; Shane Dicks, Community Bank of the Midwest; Aaron Emerson, First Kansas Bank; Matt Fehr, Animal Medical Center; Heather Hoffman, Sunflower Diversified Services; Rachel Mawhirter, Great Bend Chamber of Commerce & Economic Development; Nicole Miller, The 10th Street EyeCare Center; Candice Moeder, CUNA Mutual Retirement Solutions; Craig Newby, First Kansas Bank; Kyle Roberts, Champion Service LLC; Eric Schoendaler, First Kansas Bank.
The Barton County Young Professionals group is targeted for anyone 21-40ish who lives or works in the Barton County area. Current membership is just under 600 people. To learn more about the benefits of membership or to see an event schedule, visit www.greatbend.org/YoungProfessionals.aspx or call the Great Bend Chamber of Commerce & Economic Development at 620-792-2401.