Youth learn lessons from volunteering

By Staff
Some local students learned a lesson in volunteering this summer.
The Volunteer Center of Morgan County, Alabama Cooperative Extension, and Decatur Youth Services sponsored the Inaugural Prudential Youth Leadership Institute training class in Morgan County this summer.
The instructors were Betty Gottler of the Alabama Cooperative Extension and Taira Caldwell, an AmeriCorps Promise Fellow at the Volunteer Center of Morgan County.
The Institute provided 30 hours of planning and leadership skills to design and implement local community service projects. The program was sponsored nationally by Prudential and the Points of Light Foundation.
It is anchored in the belief that people, if encouraged, trained, and supported, can make their communities better.
The program material includes: team building, problem identification, problem solving and goal setting.
This year's graduates are: Carla Abbott, Shetima Baugh, Carla Beasley, Kyle Beasley, Elaine Cai, Ty Chancelor, L.T. Fite, Matthew Mallard, T. Kyle McInnis, Cole Palmby, Drew Smalley, Shannon Stiles, Kayleshia Thomason, Patrick Whatley, Clay Whatley, and Jhauncey Woodruff
Designing and painting murals along with landscaping the front entrance of the New Salvation Army Day Care Center is the centerpiece of the graduation project.