Rep. Barbara Ballard, D-Lawrence, pats ninth-grader Morgan Banning on the head Saturday, as Ballard gets to know the students in the PIECE Project held at Fire Station No. 5, 19th Street and Stewart Avenue.

A group of Lawrence ninth-graders are ready to learn what it takes to become a leader.

The first class of the Lawrence Chamber of Commerce’s PIECE Project officially began Saturday.

Twenty ninth-graders from Lawrence middle schools were selected in April by members of the Leadership Lawrence Program to be in PIECE, or Peer Involvement Enhancing Community Effort. They assembled Saturday at Fire Station No. 5 to meet one another and members of Leadership Lawrence, including Mayor Sue Hack, Rep. Barbara Ballard, D-Lawrence, and Glynn Sheridan, president of Sunflower Bank.

Co-chairs of the project, Kirsten Flory and Jeff Novorr, said the project had been two years in the making and they were excited to see it begin. Both of them were in the 2006 Lawrence Leadership program, which is a professional development program that gives participants firsthand exposure to the infrastructure of Lawrence and Douglas County. They said they hope the students will learn as much as they did from the program.

Flory said they selected students from all the Lawrence middle schools who have “leadership potential.”

“At this age, they are starting to think about jobs, internships and even college,” Novorr said. “We want to give them soft skills that are needed to be successful.”

He said the ninth-graders will be able to apply what they learn when they enter high school.

Briana Edmo, 14, freshman at Central Junior High School, said she applied for PIECE when she was still in eighth grade at Bishop Seabury Academy because she thought it would be a good opportunity. She said it may even help her learn how to run her own business, something she plans to do when she graduates from high school.

Beginning in September, the students will meet one Wednesday a month at different locations. Novorr said they want the students to see as much of the community as possible. There are nine committees working on themes and activities for each monthly meeting. Their first theme is Lawrence history.

“I’m excited to get out (of school), but it’s going to be a pain to make up work,” Edmo said.