From Staff Reports

AMERICUS — South Georgia Technical College (SGTC) hosted a development program recently for a group of area high school juniors known as the “Chamber Champions,” a youth leadership program sponsored by the Sumter County Chamber of Commerce.
According to the Sumter County Chamber of Commerce, the Chamber Champions are chosen based on a list of criteria set forth by the Workforce Development division. The youth initiative keeps a similar focus as the chamber, which is private sector support, growth, and jobs. In preparing students for the private sector, the initiative provides educational and hands-on experience to expose students to these realms. As part of the program, students visit different sites each month to participate in different modules that will help develop them as leaders.
Students learned about and discussed how to build teams during the recent module. SGTC’s director of Business and Industry Services, Paul Farr and PharmaCentra’s Kim Christmas served as facilitators for the day, teaching students about the importance of teams from an economic development standpoint. Helping drive that point home was Mary Beth Bass, executive director of the One Sumter Foundation, who was the featured guest speaker.
During the day, the students participated in four different activities that revolved around the concept of building teams.