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The Annual LWVAA
Picnic was held on Thursday, August 16 this year, at Shady Hollow Shelter in
Sand Run MetroPark. Wonder of wonders, for once it didn’t rain nor was it
too hot, and the shelter was cool and comfortable. And what an array of
great food and desserts – apparently we Leaguers know our food.
Besides the food
and fellowship, we had a great program. Two of the girls sponsored by LWVAA
to Buckeye Girls’ State and their mothers attended with Marilyn Warner of
American Legion Auxiliary Post 209. We heard from both Jennifer Walch of
Garfield High and Brittany Marino of Ellet High, who expressed their
appreciation to the League, and told us a little bit about their experiences
and what they achieved and enjoyed the most. Marilyn Warner presented a
certificate of appreciation to LWVAA to Mary Lou Gault, who has been active
with Buckeye Girls’ State for many years. We also received a very nice note
from the other girl we sponsored, LaToya Lewis, who was unable to attend the
picnic because she was on vacation.
Also
attending were Angela Tucker Cooper, Coordinator of Leader Institute, and
her daughter Michelle, who was a 2004 graduate of the program. Angela gave
us a bit of history about how Leader Institute began in Fall of 2000,
sponsored jointly by the Leagues of Women Voters of Summit and Portage
Counties. She also explained how the program works, in a series of six
interactive 31/2 hour sessions held on successive Sundays in the fall and
winter. The girls, nominated from various schools around the counties, learn
about different types and styles of leadership, how to work with groups,
planning and developing projects, conflict resolution, and self
presentation. Michelle told us how she has continued to use those skills,
both as president of the student body of Copley High, and in her activities
at Bowling Green University, where she is a senior. It sounds like a program
that would benefit students in all areas of their lives. If you would like
to get involved as a facilitator, please contact Angela at 330-958-8227, or
email her at
LEADERInstitute@Yahoo.com. A training session for
facilitators will be held September 8, so please call her for more
information.
Finally, we
learned so much from Kirt Conrad, planning and development director for
Metro Regional Transit Authority and Akron School Board member. We asked him
to focus on how Metro is working to accommodate riders as employment
opportunities have become more scattered around the county. He provided us
with an excellent diagram of where riders are located vs. where jobs are
located to illustrate the complexity of the issues. The best results, he
said, come from partnerships between Metro and employers, who agree to buy
tickets in bulk to guarantee ridership, which they then can provide to their
employees. Kirt also provided us with some very interesting facts about
Metro ridership: the average income of Metro riders is about $10,000 per
year; Metro serves about 27,000 passengers daily; more than 6 million riders
used Metro last year, more passengers than used Akron-Canton Airport; Metro
served an additional 400,000 seniors or disabled individuals on SCAT. It was
a most interesting and informative presentation.
We also had a very
surprise visitor: Mayor Don Plusquellic dropped in on the festivities to
observe Kirt Conrad’s presentation, and enjoyed conversation with Leaguers
after the meeting adjourned.
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