Leadership / Media / History
Oct. 3 & 4 in Key West
The opening retreat introduced students to Peter Hammerschmidt: Leadership and Conflict Dynamics. This was followed with a hands on experience of Getting to Know Key West and Pinky. The day ended with a reception with alumni and then dinner "on your own".
Day Two introduced Personality Profiling in the morning with Debbie Mason. This session helped the class understand their personality traits and how to effectively deal with the traits of others. The afternoon addressed the role of the news media in the community and ended with Tom Hambright reviewing the history of the county.
Environment
Nov. 7, 8, 9 in the Everglades
The day began with a visit to the Koblick Marine Center where the class had a stimulating lecture and back country boat ride into the mangroves. Following a picnic lunch, the class visited the FKAA Treatment Plant and then headed for the Rod and Gun Club.
Day Two began with a tour of Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary, and then an exhilarating everglades island boat tour. This was followed by a visit to the Museum of the Everglades, a walking tour, and an evening debrief of the day with an evening Florida Challenge Quiz. The class ended the day with dinner at the Seafood depot.
Day Three included a lecture on the restoration of the everglades with Dan Kimball, Everglades National Park Superintendent, and a trolley tour of Shark Valley. Class members returned to Key Largo early Sunday afternoon.
Law and Military
Dec. 5 in Key West
The class met in the new courthouse with a panel that represented judges, the public defender's office and the state attorney's office. This was followed by a tour of the Monroe County detention facility and a talk with Bob Peryam. The afternoon was spent at Boca Chica learning about the role of the Navy, the Coast Guard, and Homeland Security.
Emergency Management
Jan. 9 in Marathon
An overview of Emergency Services was provided. Class members participated in the decision making process regarding the aftermath of a hurricane and explored how it effects the Keys mentally and economically. The class participated in a simulation of an auto accident rescue, learning more about the medical transportation of a critical trauma patient in "Trauma Star".
Education and Housing
Feb. 6 & 7 in Marathon
Class members met at the Marathon High School Media Center, and were provided with an overview of the key educational institutions of the county: Monroe County Schools, Florida Keys Community College, Take Stock in Children, SouthFlorida Workforce, and Challenge Day. Lunch was provided by the high school culinary students. The session ended with a panel of students from the community college, facilitated by Lydia Estenoz, discussing what the college meant to them. An alumni social capped off the evening.
Day Two was held at the Marathon Fire Station. The day began with Chris Sante talking about factors that affect your tax assessment. This was followed by Debbie McAfee presenting information about insurance factors. Susie Hammaker then talked about wastewater management and Lisa Feliciano addressed financing in today's environment. Two panels ended the day, one focused on environmental resources, including John Stuart, Colleen Tagle and Bruce Williams. The other panel focused on the Florida Keys Scenic Corridor and Greenway Trails. Sandwiched between the two panels was a presentation by John Hammerstrom on efficient living.
Health and Human Services
Mar. 6 in Key Largo
Baptist Health, Mariners Hospital hosted a day that provided insights to the challenges facing local hospitals and medical professionals. Medicare and hospital reimbursement was reviewed by Lorena Chicoye. There was a tour of the intensive care and hyperbaric chamber. Insurance options were addressed. Other services, like AHEC, Rural Health, and AHEC were also addressed. Dr. Strib Ellison ended the day with a discussion with the class on the future of health care.
Economy, Government and Tourism
April 24-25 in Key West
Day One addressed tourism trends in Monroe County and insights on the inner workings of the Tourist Development Council. This included an overview of advertising and a tour on a conch train. The afternoon hosted Perry Johnston and Lou Harris talking about the economy.
Day Two addressed Servant Leadership with Debbie Mason and then a debrief on the year.
Class XVI of Leadership Monroe County — whose motto is "License to Lead" — was indeed a memorable one. Quick to bond as a group — and what better way to bond than a roadside pit stop sans restroom in the Everglades after dark — this class was particularly inquisitive when it came to questioning session speakers and panelists.
The class benefited from having our state representative and school superintendent as members, both founts of knowledge. Throw in a hospital administrator, a community activist on sewer issues, an advertising executive promoting the Florida Keys, two prosecutors, and representatives from a number of nonprofits, financial institutions, utilities, and the medical and legal communities and you have a well—rounded group of Keys' activists.
Following the tradition of each class selecting a specific project of their own outside the LMC curriculum, Class XVI has chosen to assist locally in the Masonic child identification program (CHIP) by helping to identify and recover missing children. CHIP programs allow parents the opportunity to create a kit of identifying materials for their child, free of charge. The kit contains a fingerprint card, a physical description, a video, computer disk, or DVD of the child, a dental imprint, and a DNA sample.
As recruitment begins for a new class, it will be difficult to match the enthusiasm and talents of this bunch that have a "License to Lead."
Henry Woods
I would like to take this moment to thank everyone for your support and encouragement while I was attending Leadership Florida. Leadership Florida turned out to be the experience of a lifetime. I met so many wonderful people and learned so much about our great state. One thing I learned was that we are not the only ones that are having workforce issues. How would you like to be a cattleman, trying to hire an experienced cattle person? Requirements for the job: you must have at least three years experience working around cattle, you must have your own cattle dogs, (three to four), along with three cattle horses and of course you must have a pickup truck with a horse trailer. So as you can see, we don't have it so bad!
Leadership Florida is made up of five sessions that are spread out over 10 months. Each session is held in a different city and the class learns about the issues and problems that they face and how they plan to solve them. Some of the issues facing cities throughout our state are water shortages and the need to improve infrastructure. Freshwater is the major crisis; the fear of coastal cities is salt-water intrusion into freshwater wells. The League of Cities, and leaders from all across the State are working together to come up with solutions to these pressing issues.
I encourage each and every one of you, if you have an opportunity to attend Leadership Florida, to do so. Every session left me with the desire for more information about our great State. Leadership Florida challenges you to go back into your community and do more. I again want to thank all of you and I look forward to seeing all of you this year at one of our recruiting socials.
