“Welcome to this special event — the graduation of our Leadership McKean Class of 2023. Tonight you will learn about our graduates, their projects and what they’ve experienced throughout our Eight Month Core program.” These were the opening remarks by Leadership McKean Board President Lori Freer at last Thursday night’s graduation ceremony held at the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford for the Leadership McKean Class of 2023 — the largest class in its history. Kristin Asinger, Leadership McKean executive director emceed along with Freer for the evening event.
The longevity and breadth of the program were noted with the first class of graduates in 2007. Over the past 15 years, 78 sponsoring organizations have sent over 300 participants and over 700 presenters have collectively shared their expertise with the Leadership McKean classes. The success of the program is built on the foundation of support from the local business community.
The sponsors for the graduation event included Northwest Bank, American Refining Group, the Philo & Sarah Blaisdell Foundation, Kessel Construction, the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford and the Bradford Area School District.
Steve Borowski, Sue Swain, Taylor Tarahteeff, Lisa Stiles and Tony Scrivo spoke of their specific and positive experience participating in Leadership McKean this year.
As a requirement of the eight-month CORE program, all class members work in a team setting on a community-driven project. The evening program included the opportunity to hear – first hand – the successful county-wide projects that have been completed by the 2023 class.
The ‘Hygiene for Hope’ project team, a human-services focused team, set up county-wide donation centers to collect needed hygiene products that were then distributed to county organizations in need. Over 1,500 hygiene products were collected and donated. Team graduates include Sarah Baker, Melissa Merry, John Obermyer, Chrissy Reigel, Lisa Stiles and Amanda Whitmore. Following the horrific Pleasant Street fires, team member Lisa Stiles commented “I am humbled to complete this project with a great group of professionals. With the devastating house fires that happened earlier this week, I hope that our contributions may be helpful to the families in need. “
The ‘Workforce, Economic Development & Entrepreneurship’ project team coordinated a successful “Personal Branding & Networking” Workshop for Rising Leaders of McKean County members. Over 30 people registered for this event focused on establishing and managing an individual’s personal brand and a networking exercise. This team included graduates Chad Clark, Matt Dennis, Mark Raecher, Tony Scrivo, Christian Smith and Dan Yeager.
The new “Taste of the Town” event was created by the Tourism & Recreation team. Collectively the eight food vendors sold 450 pastries/breakfast sandwiches from John Williams European Pastry Shop, 105 dozen donuts from BK Donuts, 49 pizzas from Pizza Napoli, 105 lemonades and 70 popcorns from Camper’s Kettle Corn, 40 cotton candy/ice creams from Road Runner Novelties, 80 orders from Phatt Grady’s and 74 orders from The Good Place. This team included graduates Patrick Harrington, Jacob Johnson, Garrett Newhouse, Tyler Smith, Sue Swain and Aaron VanSickles.
The ‘Community & Civic Engagement’ project team helped educate county citizens on effective, practical and available recycling options through the development and distribution of a new pamphlet focused on reuse, reduce and recycle. Integrating QR codes provided quick links to useful conservation, schedules, and guidelines relevant to the local area. This team included graduates Brianna DeGiglio, Blayke Geer, Chad Hockaday, Kayla Pascarella, Nick Smolak and Taylor Tarahteeff.
The ‘Health and Healthcare’ project team connected our Bradford Manor residents with a therapeutic and interactive ‘Pet Parade’ that brought ‘pets’ into contact with Bradford Manor residents. The parade included SPCA animals, along with Percy, the miniature pony, and Percy’s barnyard friends to be enjoyed by all. Connecting residents with animals has been shown to improve physical, mental and emotional well-being in older adults. This team included graduates Steve Borowski, Amanda Brinker, Bob Colts, Patty Fitzsimmons, Gabrielle Kelley and Marissa Yohe.
This year’s class included Sarah Baker with Bradford Area School District, Steven Borowski with Kessel Construction, Inc., Amanda Brinker with Bradford Regional Medical Center, Chad Clark with McCourt Label, Robert Colts with American Refining Group, Brianna DeGiglio with Zippo Manufacturing Company, Matthew Dennis with Bradford Sanitary Authority, Patricia Fitzsimmons with McKean Co. Redevelopment & Housing Authority, Gabrielle Kelley with Bradford Hospital Foundation, Blayke Geer with McCourt Label, Patrick Harrington with Evergreen Elm, Inc., Chad Hockaday with University of Pittsburgh at Bradford, Jacob Johnson with Bradford Sanitary Authority, Melissa Merry with Bradford Area School District, Garrett Newhouse with Zippo Manufacturing Company, Johnathon Obermeyer with Community Links, Kayla Pascarella with Zippo Manufacturing Company, Mark Raecher with Futures Rehabilitation Center, Christina Reigel with Beacon Light, Tony Scrivo with Northwest Bank, Tyler Smith with American Refining Group, Christian Smith with Bradford Area Alliance, Nicholas Smolak with Zippo Manufacturing Company, Lisa Stiles with American Refining Group, Susan Swain with Eppendorf Americas, Taylor Tarahteeff with University of Pittsburgh at Bradford, Aaron VanSickles with Fox Holdings, Inc., Amanda Whitmore with Journey Health Systems, Daniel Yeager with Bradford Sanitary Authority and Marissa Yohe with W.R. Case & Sons Cutlery Co.
Registration for the Leadership McKean Class of 2024 will begin later this summer with a program kick-off starting in October. More information on the Leadership McKean program can be found on the ‘Leadership McKean’ facebook page and at the www.LeadershipMcKean.com website.
