Natalie Glenn

Last night I graduated from LEAD Athens, a leadership development program with the mission to develop effective leaders committed to building a vibrant community. The year long program consisted of orientation, a retreat and eight day-long programs each with a focus on a particular topic such as local government, economic development, education, etc. and a group project.

Team Brown: Steve Guild, Brian Brooks, Jason Peek, myself and Paul Collar

My group members and I chose to focus on economic development for our project as we conducted a business climate study with local retailers. For the project, we polled 200 locally-owned businesses and conducted a focus group. The video we presented at our graduation won "best picture."

LEAD Athens was a great program, not only did I meet some really great people but I learned so much about our community. I reccomend it to anyone interested in Athens and learning more about all that it has to offer.