The Lake Norman Chamber of Commerce has accepted fourteen area High School Juniors in its 2022-2023 Junior Leadership Lake Norman program. The program, administered by the Chamber of Commerce, is coordinated by the 2021-2022 graduates of the Chamber’s Adult Leadership Lake Norman as a service project. Students will learn more about their community during this intensive and rewarding seven-month long program. The leadership development program was specifically created to inform, motivate and increase the overall awareness of selected high school students through educational seminars and interaction with various decision makers of local businesses, government agencies and civic organizations.

The students were selected based on their previous and potential leadership ability and community involvement. This year’s class (Class XII) includes students from Covenant Classical School, Davidson Day School, Hopewell High School, Hough High School, The Community School of Davidson, Lake Norman Charter, Liberty Preparatory Christian Academy, and Pine Lake Prep.

The students include: Kaylee Atkocius, Joni Pappas, Ryan Bell, Pranav Kumaran, Luke Roberson, Alli Delay, Maddy McCabe, Liam Kelly, Julia Jones, Joey Vogel, Winter Hamme, John Erber, Liam Chaten, and Cal Bryan.

The program kicked off with a retreat at Rural Hill where students participated in a “Mindful Exercise’, Leadership Socratic Seminar and other teambuilding exercise facilitated by Leela Zile - Founder of Ahimsa Childbirth Services. Volunteers who assisted from Leadership Lake Norman were: Penelope Paugh – Carson Wealth and T.J. Francomano -The Lake Norman Group, Merrill Lynch Wealth Management . Welcoming the students was Jessica Bustamante, the Executive Director of Rural Hill and host of the retreat. Also volunteering was Brendan Kelly, Kelly’s Community Kitchen.

Junior Leadership is presented by Novant Health. Supporting business sponsors include Tenders Fresh Foods (PDQ), Carolina Office Systems, Duke Energy, EnergyUnited, Jason Colvin – State Farm Insurance, Lepage Johnson eXp Realty, Raymer Kepner Funeral Home and Crematorium, Rural Hill, The McIntosh Law Firm, and The Range at Lake Norman.

Caption: The Lake Norman Chamber has accepted 14 High School Juniors in the 12^th Class of Junior Leadership Lake Norman. The students participated in a team building retreat at Rural Hill in Huntersville. Photo by Bill Russell, Lake Norman Chamber.