LEADERSHIP KEARNEY CLASS #34 SEPTEMBER SESSION

Thursday, Sept 11, 2025  began LK 34's 2-day retreat.  We began in Kearney, where we were graciously hosted by Younes Conference South as our meeting and luncheon location.  Each participant had a headshot taken- smile! - followed by a group photo. Huge thanks to our photographer, Carolyn Miller .

Our day of learning began with the first of two panel Discussions, where we heard from Trevor Lee, President of the Development Council for Buffalo County, Sarah Focke, Director of Visit Kearney, Scott Hayden, Director of Recreation Services for Kearney, and Jonathan Nikkila, Mayor of Kearney. These community leaders described some of Kearney's incredible strengths and expounded on recent dynamics and factors affecting our area. Many thanks to our panelists! Our second panel explored the areas of medical care, faith, education and business.  Representatives from these industries gave us insights into their respective areas, where we heard about current trends in anything from cardiac technology, KPS buildings and budgets, the religious aspect of our communities, and up and coming business opportunities. One particularly interesting topic centered on how AI is being adopted in each of these areas. 

We wrapped up our morning with a fascinating look into our individual and collective personality profiles, using the Predictive Index tool. Travis Justice and Grace Weirs of MCL Construction helped us understand how this tool can be used to provide insights into one's inner motivations and behaviors across multiple dimensions.  

For the afternoon, we loaded up and carpooled to Camp Comeca near Cozad, NE, the site of our Retreat for the next 24 hours. The rest of the day included team building activities designed to help us get to know one another while reflecting on the nature of leadership through communication, trust, and problem solving.  Through low ropes course challenges, and recreation games we quickly coalesced around shared goals and challenges faced. We learned we are "cardio people", and finished the evening with socializing and a campfire.  As morning dawned, we wrapped our retreat with a zip line, archery, and axe throwing. A big thank you to Joey, Angela, and the Camp Comeca Staff for their hospitality!

Our last item before departure was early planning for LK34s class project.

Submitted by session historian, Marcos Stoltzfus.