The 32nd annual East Kentucky Leadership Conference was hosted by Southeast Kentucky Community and Technical College (SKCTC) in partnership with many community agencies in April. The conference’s theme was “Getting Ahead of the Curve: Growing a 21st Century Economy.”

Registration was held at Benham School House Inn, and two morning sessions were held followed by lunch. An intensive session was held in the afternoon at the Betty Howard Theatre, followed by a tour and reception at the Kentucky Coal Mining Museum. Last on the agenda was the awards and recognition banquet.

Serving as guest speaker for the banquet was Ron Crouch, demographic and economic consultant with Crouch and Associates. WYMT’s Neil Middleton hosted the awards showcase, with Donnell Busroe as co-host. The 2019 award honorees were as follows:

• Youth Leadership Award – Community Homes for Homelessness and Addiction Recovery (CHHAR) project. Coordinator was Scott Pace and his Harlan County High School students, Garry Henson, Caleb Ashley, Brenna V. Early and Abigail B. Vitatoe.

• Media & Technology Award – Jamie Lucke a Lexington Herald Leader reporter and editorial writer for almost 31 years.

• Organization Award –Thomas Cravens, director of the Challenger Learning Center of Kentucky located on the Hazard Community and Technical College campus.

• Culture and Arts Award — Ann Schertz, SKCTC retired professor of performing arts.

• Private Individual Awards — David Davies for 51 years of service as an English teacher at Harlan Independent School, and 44 years as director of the Harlan Boys Choir; Marilyn Schrader was also presented the award for her 50 years of service teaching at Harlan Independent High School. She was a pianist for the Harlan Boys Choir.

• Public Individual Award — Dr. Carolyn Sundy, vice president of diversity/inclusion and special programs, for her 43 years of service to the college, community, and the state.

• Tony Turner Leadership Award — Dr. Edsel Godbey who, as founding president, played a special role in the development of SKCTC.

On Friday morning a breakfast was held on Southeast’s Cumberland campus followed by a presentation by Scott Pace and the CHHAR organization students. Concurrent sessions were held with individual presenters or panels. Following lunch a Gubernatorial Candidates Forum was held for all attendees who wanted to share their platform. Door prizes and closing remarks were given by Peter Hille, chair of the East Kentucky Leadership Foundation Board.

Dr. Sundy, who served as chair for the conference, offered special thanks to all conference sponsors.