Last summer, Lele and Maxie Brock had the chance to go to the Ohio-West Virginia Youth Leadership Association-led entrepreneurship summit at Camp Horseshoe, thanks to the support of the Tug Valley Chamber of Commerce. “We instantly fell in love with the people and the environment,” Maxie says. “And we immediately started talking with the director of the YLA about starting a local chapter.”
Improving and Helping their Community
Fast forward to now, and Maxie is now the vice president of our area’s very own YLA Chapter, while sister Lele is the president. The two of them are working hard to share the five pillars of YLA– Leadership, Character, Service, Entrepreneurship, and Philanthropy–with the community. “We are working to focus on community service and building our entrepreneurship and leadership skills,” Lele says. “Our main goal is to better our community.”
As president, Lele “guides and leads” their chapter to meet their goals, which include “growing the chapter, having better outreach, creating job shadowing opportunities for members, and community service projects.” As vice-president, Maxie assists Lele in leading the chapter, as well as leading the charge in getting and retaining new members.”
Since the club is actually sponsored by the Tug Valley Chamber of Commerce, this chapter is open to any high school student in grades 9-12 in Mingo County. Their present goal for their members is for all of them to attend Youth In Government in April 2023, where members of the chapter will participate in a simulation of the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of the government that is completely led by student officers. “This will take lots of fundraising and sponsorships, so we will focus on this,” Lele says.
As the club continues to grow, the full officers group pictured below are:
Kaylin Joplin- Secretary
Maxie Brock- Vice President
Lele Brock-President
Chloe Munday- Historian
Alexis Lambert- Treasurer
Mingo County YLA has completed one of their first service projects which was a gently used book drive to be donated to a local “little library” project.
Upcoming club projects and activities include:
Free Kids Read Aloud Program on Friday, December 9th at 5pm at The Collective Retail and Artisan Shops in downtown WIlliamson. The club is working with Maple Grove Books for this fun activity.
Mingo County YLA Bring-a-Friend Christmas Party set for Thursday, December 22 at 6:30pm at Sazon Mexican Restaurant in Williamson. This is an opportunity for members and potential members to get together to talk and celebrate Christmas together. All attendees are responsible for their own dinner cost.
As for fundraising for their spring Youth in Government trip, the club has created an online group for a New Year’s Eve Appetizer Auction. The auction will begin December 23rd, bids end December 29th, and all items won may be picked up on December 30th just in time for New Year’s Eve.
Finally, the club is collaborating with Heather Wolford, Executive Director of the Mingo County Family Service Center, to create a Teen Activity Night program at the FSC.
If you’d like to support the Mingo County YLA Chapter and encourage them on their journey to achieve their goals, check out their Facebook group
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