By Mike Hutchens, UC Schools Communications Director
Union City, Tenn.–Union City High School juniors Abby Suiter and Laken Prather recently participated in the ninth annual Vaughn RisingStar Leadership Summit on the campus of the University of Tennessee at Martin.
The two-day conference was designed specifically for high school juniors and seniors in West Tennessee and is a byproduct of the WestStar Leadership program. The main purpose of the RisingStar summit is to give student leaders across the area the chance to develop leadership skills and learn the importance of community involvement.
Suiter and Prather were among 36 students from a dozen rural West Tennessee counties in attendance at the event.
Students were given the choice of eight customized individual campus tours as part of the summit, including engineering, nursing, art/theater, fashion/nutrition/child & family, agriculture, communications, computers/technology and criminal justice.
Both Suiter and Prather chose communications, where Dr. Richard Robinson oversaw their tour.
UTM Chancellor Dr. Keith Carver and Dr. Charley Deal, executive director of WestStar Leadership, welcomed the group on Day 1 of the summit that was highlighted by a fine dining experience and a “Facing Challenges” presentation by Amanda Mayo.
David Belote, Office of Student Engagement representative from UT Martin, and Gina McClure, Assistant Vice Chancellor for Residential and Student Life at UTM, combined for a session on leadership team building to begin Day 2.
The group then took their customized campus tours before an afternoon presentation by Cary Vaughn, CEO of Love Worth Finding Ministries of Memphis, on motivational leadership.
Students received scholarship information before adjournment.
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