Youth Leadership

The Communities That Care Youth Leadership Group will be hosting a day-long Leadership Summit for Reno County 6th, 7th, and 8th graders on Monday, January 16th from 8-4 at the Hutchinson High School Performing Arts Center. The event is free and includes a breakfast snack and lunch. The Summit hopes to encourage area youth to develop their own leadership skill, make good choices regarding drugs, alcohol, bullying, and other peer pressure, and to go back to their schools and make a positive change.

Cost: Free, and includes a breakfast snack (possibly a granola bar and/or fruit) and lunch (possibly pizza and salad)

Questions: Call: 665-4778, or email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

The Keynote Speaker for the event will be Bill Cordes, a nationally known speaker who lives in Lawrence, KS. Bill's energetic and inspirational message is sure to ignite the young leaders in our community. Bill was selected by the CTC Youth Leadership Group, and several of them have heard his message many times.

"Bill's message gets across to youth of all ages because of his passion to help guide youth in the right direction." -Nick Ramsey, Junior at Hutchinson High School

Small group sessions will also be led by the CTC Youth Leadership students. They'll play games and have fun, but they will also talk about problems in our schools and community and what we can do to make a difference. Each small group will have the opportunity to make a plan of action that they can take back with them to their home school.

The Reno County Youth Leadership Summit is made possible by the Hutchinson Community Foundation's Fund for Hutchinson.

Youth Leadership Group Hosts "Twilight Family Fun and Pumpkinaries"

The CTC Youth Leadership Group hosted a Halloween event for more than 1,000 local participants. The evening feature free food, games, candy, live music, and 100 carved pumpkins.

Students Soar in Presenations

The CTC Youth Leadership Groups at Hutchinson High School, Hutchinson Middle School-8 and Buhler High School gave presentations to local 5th and 6th graders educating them on the dangers of drugs and alcohol use. More than 50 students participated and reached an estimated 1,000 students.

The presentations featured skits, games, testimonials, and a chance for the grade school students to ask questions of the high school students.

As in previous years, the presentations focused primarily on abstaining from drugs and alcohol. Many of the high school students shared how they were able to resist peer pressure and how involvement in positive activities such as sports, band, or clubs like CTC has help keep them on a path to success.

National Service Learning Conference, San Jose, California

A group from the CTC Youth Leadership Group, set off very early in the morning to catch their flight to San Jose. Despite leaving Hutchinson at 4 a.m., the group was excited and ready for the journey that awaited them. 6th_grade_presentations_009

Upon arrival in San Jose, the group was eager to see the sights of California. They had beautiful weather for the duration of the trip.

The students spent most of their time at The McEnery Convention Center in Downtown San Jose. They heard speakers from all over the world including, Great Brittan and Sudan. The National Service Learning Conference was attended by 2,500 youth. The group met students from across the United States, and sampled all the conference had to offer.

The students also took part in an off-site service learning project in Oakland. The students were transported by bus to a small charter school which had an extensive service-learning program on site. This trip was many of the student’s favorite part of the conference.

Additionally, the conference had informational booths and a bookstore onsite. Many of the students purchased books from a speaker 6th_grade_presentations_025

or a presenter they wanted to learn more about. The group also met with a founder of Bead for Life, and will be doing an event for them soon (see Bead for Life article).

One evening, the conference held a youth night for all participants. There was dancing, games, karaoke, and even a place to watch the NCAA tournament.

The group watched K-State’s double overtime cliffhanger against Xavier at the hotel. Thankfully, the Kentucky/Cornell game was a blow-out so the K-State game received top billing on the West Coast.

As far as tourism goes, the group spent time navigating the San Jose public transportation system, touring the Winchester Mystery House, and shopping on Santana Row.

The Winchester Mystery House is a bizarre and fascinating look at the Victorian Mansion once owned by Winchester Rifle heiress, 6th_grade_presentations_078

Sarah Winchester. She believed if she stopped construction on the home at any time, the spirits of those whose lives had been claimed by her family’s rifles would haunt her. Thus, construction continued for 40 years, leaving a 160 room home with many complexities.

The group got along great and became very much like a family. All were sad to leave San Jose, but thankful for the experience and the chance to learn new and exciting techniques that will make the leadership group and coalition stronger.

Five students to attend conference

Five students from the Hutchinson High School Youth Leadership group will attend the National Service Learning Conference in San Jose, Calif. March 24th through March 28th.

All interested students were asked to compete in an essay writing contest to earn a spot. Students were also scored based on the number of participation points they earned in the first half of the school year.

Those selected were: Emma Barnett, Brooke Lanham, Amy Stegman, Nick Ramsey, and Casey Walker. The group’s sponsor for the trip will be Bailey Basinger-Stiggins.

The NSLC Conference hosts around 2,500 students, teachers, and youth sponsors from all over the United States as well as several other countries.

Basinger-Stiggins said. “Not only will they get to travel to a new place, but they will also interact and gain ideas from students who are working to accomplish many of the same problems in their own communities.”

The group will be staying in downtown San Jose and will be participating in some service projects in that community.

The group also plans to venture to the Winchester Mystery House as a fun activity during their free time.

Buhler launches CTC Youth Program

A group of students from Buhler will be joining the Communities That Care Coalition.

Several students attended an informational meeting and were excited about the opportunity to be a part of our mission.

Bailey Basinger-Stiggins will be overseeing the group and it’s activities, much like she does with the Hutchinson group.

She plans on the group participating in many of the same community service projects that the Hutch group does, but also plan projects in their out school and community.

“The most important thing to remember is that we are working to decrease risky behaviors in all of Reno

County,” Basinger-Stiggins said. “We can’t make that happen with out help from all over.”

In the future, the CTC Youth Leadership Groups plan to establish more colonies in other Reno County Schools, or at least partnering with an existing group in the remaining schools.

Sixth Grade Presentations

6th Grade Presenters The Youth Leadership Groups are beginning to put together their annual presentations to the sixth graders.

Each year, the high school students present to as many of the sixth graders in their district as possible.

The presentations focus on substance abuse prevention, making healthy choices, and resisting peer pressure.

In previous years, the students have used interactive games such as, Jeopardy and Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, and skits to help the sixth grade students learn in a fun way.

Interaction with the younger students brings a lot of joy to the high school group.

The tentative date for the presentations is set for April 28th, and this year, the Hutchinson Group hopes to go to all eight grade schools.

Buhler is making preparations as well.

Reno County Youth Leadership Summit - Registration Form