North Dakota State University Williston Research Extension Center ag extension specialist Chet Hill and Williston State College entrepreneurship/business instructor Maeve MacSteves are among 18 state residents participating in the fourth session of this two-year opportunity.
Program participants had to apply to be considered for the program that focuses on critical and creative thinking, effective communication, understanding agriculture and rural policy and finding innovative ways to fund local and regional development projects.
Hill hopes to improve his leadership skills in public speaking, working in team setting and in other ways.
"Probably my biggest reason for being a part of it is to increase my network of people around the state," he said of applying for the program. "My biggest thing I want to improve with my leadership skills is some of the conflict management and working with other people." Hill said the group's first session included a presenter who showed how to "read" people.
"The gentleman who was doing the presentation last week, after five minutes, 10 minutes of visiting with a person, he could really get an idea of a person right away," he said.
MacSteves is fairly new to North Dakota, as she is in her third year of teaching at WSC after coming from urban Washington state.
"I'm not as connected to rural economic issues as I would like to be," MacSteves said. "I really wanted to have an opportunity to find out what the rural residents of the state are facing, and as an instructor, what can we do at Williston State."
Hill is excited about the two-year commitment the program requires.
"What is neat about it is a lot of the sessions are held in the towns where the people who are involved in the leadership program are from," he said. "We will get time to tour around those areas, see what is happening in their regions."
The program also includes a four-day seminar in Canada and a six-day seminar in Washington, D.C.
"We're going to meet some service organizations in Canada while we are there and see some legislative things as well," Hill said. "In Washington, D.C., of course we'll be on Capitol Hill."
Hill said other states are into their second decade of offering this program, while this is the fourth class of participants for the program being offered in North Dakota.
"I think it is a great program and the state has a lot of support for it," he said of the program that is coordinated by the NDSU Extension Service.
Participants are required to do a project that benefits their organization, community or region by using the skills they are learning in the program. Hill's project is something he is already developing as part of the Williston Corner Lions Club.
Hill is chairing a committee to design a new grill that the club uses to cook at about 30 different events throughout the year.
"The past grill we had somewhere for at least 25 years," he said. "It's old. There are some safety problems with it."
Hill also is helping lead the committee responsible for fundraising the necessary $13,000 to $15,000 needed to build the new grill.
"It's going to be 16 feet long. We will have two medium-sized grills and the other side is a prep area," he said.
Hill loves to barbecue, which is the main reason why he's taken on the club project.
Meanwhile, MacSteves is still trying to determine what her project is to be.
"There are about 10 different things going through my mind. I don't have a clear handle on that yet," she said of a project.
One idea is a "children's museum," which really isn't a museum, but is an indoor, hands-on learning play space for children. MacSteves said she's lived where such facilities have existed, and also has visited communities that have them.
"It's something the kids can do when the weather is bad," she said.
A properly structured facility is one where children learn while they play without knowing they're learning, she said.
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