Nineteen students recently graduated from the Leadership Allegany program on February 7th, marking its fourth graduation of students. The program, co-founded by Pamela Witter in 2009 and backed by the Alfred Higher Education Group, the Allegany County Area Foundation, and Houghton College among other organizations, is “a 10-month training program for adult professionals … [with the] criteria that they either live, work or have a vested interest in Allegany county,” as Witter described.
According to Witter, the program was “based on the social change model for leadership development, which is a program UCLA came up with in the ‘90s.” Instruction focuses on individual strengths, then progresses to group dynamics and finally civil engagement. The intensive design of the program won Leadership Allegany an award from the national education advocacy group known as the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (CASE). In addition, any graduate of the program who later enrolls at Houghton College may receive six college credits for its completion.
This group of graduates was the program’s largest yet, with two yielding from Houghton College: assistant visit office coordinator Mary Jo Cronk and associate director of academic records James Hutter. As part of the program, both took surveys at the beginning of the program to determine their leadership strengths and were then sorted into groups which worked on projects together. One of the projects was the organization of an “industry day” in which a certain organization or function in Allegany was highlighted through presentations and tours given by involved professionals. Various industry days included visits to the legislative chambers in Belmont, a local prison, working traditional and organic farms at Alfred State, and an alternative learning school in Cuba. Classes would typically meet one half-day per month for an industry day, which would be supplemented by another half-day of classroom learning per month.
In addition to industry day projects, each group must also complete service projects which contribute to the betterment of Allegany County. For her project, Cronk set up a fundraiser with another organization by organizing a fly-in breakfast at the Wellsville Airport. The project both brought attention to the small, local airport and donated proceeds to the Palliative Care program at Cuba Memorial Hospital. Hutter’s group chose to work with Gil’s Hills Ministries east of Wellsville, NY, an organization aimed at helping local youth. The group painted well-worn areas on the property and repaired the playground as well.
Overall, both Cronk and Hutter had positive things to say about the program and its impact on their work. “Our office has also used the strengths-based training, and so it has helped me to understand a little bit about what drives people and how to best encourage them in what they’re doing and come alongside [them] and work as a team, said Cronk. “The biggest lesson for me, probably, and the hardest one for me to carry out, is the fact that conflict can be useful,” she added.
According to Hutter, “[the program] help[ed] me in dealing with other people. Actually, that’s life. In life you deal with very different people. On this campus there are very different people, very different perspectives. How do you deal with that? How do you deal with conflict? How do you meet objectives?” He added, “It’s actually very practical training, and I’d recommend it for anyone at any level.”