On Wednesday, June 8, 27 Upper Valley residents from a wide range of backgrounds completed a course of study aimed at helping them make a difference in their community. As participants in Leadership Upper Valley, one of Vital Communities’ flagship programs, they had spent one day a month since September getting to know an array of Upper Valley issues and the people leading change in those areas, and learning about each other and the perspectives they each bring to the program.
Set at VINS Nature Center in Quechee, Wednesday was a day participants largely spent in small-group discussion, looking back at the themes covered in the year – Education, the Arts, Economic Development, Public Health, Justice, Government, Housing and Transportation, and Environment – and thinking ahead to how they might apply the learning. The day was capped by a ceremony and reception in the August Pavillion, with brief addresses by Amber Johnston, Chair, Leadership Upper Valley Board of Governors and Director of Community Education and Volunteer Services at the Upper Valley Haven; and the Rev. Leon Dunkley, Minister, North Chapel in Woodstock VT, and member of last year’s Leadership Upper Valley class.
The graduates are:
Jen Anderson, Woodstock VT
Jeff Backus, Dismas House of Hartford
Rebecca Bailey, Vital Communities
Danna Bare, Waypoint
Alison Chisolm, River Valley Community College
Mariah Davis, Mascoma Bank
Virginia Drye, Plainfield NH
Alison Gaffney, Bar Harbor Bank
Sean Healey, Hypertherm
Holly Hollenbeck, LISTEN Community Services
Cody Hussey, Canaan NH
Krista Karlson, Willing Hands
Ryan Klink, Northern Stage
William Landry, Dartmouth Hitchcock Health
Andrea Leland, Dartmouth Hitchcock Health
Britton Mann, Open Door
Patricia Monahan, Mascoma Bank
Dawna Neron, EC Fiber
Adam Pippin, Claremont Savings Bank
Tim Ross
Kristin Roth, Dartmouth Hitchcock Health
Lindsay Smith, Hanover Co-op Food Stores of NH & VT
Erin Smith, Upper Valley Music Center
Elizabeth Swanton, Alice Peck Day Memorial Hospital
Kathleen Vasconcelos, Grafton County Senior Citizens Center
Jonathan Voegele, Sheehan Phinney Bass & Green
Kerri Weeks, Upper Valley Haven
Published 6/10/22