On June 14th we reported that Karie Pallansch, a graduate of our LeadershipPlenty training program, was competing for the title of Miss South Dakota. Well, Karie came extremely close to winning it all but finished as the pageant's first runner up. This is an improvement on last year's second runner up and is a truly awesome result for our talented graduate.
Karie told us that in the coming year she is going to continue her work in community development, as she told us this is "just the beginning." Currently she is working with volunteers (some of whom are also LeadershipPlenty graduates) in Northeastern South Dakota to develop a plan to develop the community and its economic potential. As a student she is also concentrating on community development issues including work on a masters thesis on the subject of group effectiveness.
Much of life is attitude and Karie has a great one. She writes of her own experience with our leadership program, "People are excited to see and hear that there are programs available to better our future, that in itself is worth cheering about." It is indeed and we expect Karie will give us all something to cheer about with her efforts. Congratulations again!