Lawrence chamber members invest in youths

Ninth-graders discuss their spending habits during an August PIECE Project event at Fire Station No. 5, 19th Street and Stewart Avenue. From left are Reilly Moore and Elisa Coffey of Southwest Junior High, Grace Miller of South Junior High, Briana Edmo of Bishop Seabury Academy, Kara Mishler of Southwest Junior High and Morgan Banning of South Junior High.

Rep. Barbara Ballard, D-Lawrence, works with students during a PIECE event in August. PIECE is a youth leadership project started by the Lawrence Chamber of Commerce.

Since August, 20 ninth-graders have discovered numerous behind-the-scenes happenings that occur daily in Lawrence, thanks to a youth leadership program developed by members of the Lawrence Chamber of Commerce.

One Wednesday a month the students selected to participate in the PIECE Project, or Peer Involvement Encouraging Community Engagement, have been exposed to everything from art production at the University Theatre to an economic development game to understand the flow of retail and tax dollars in the city.

The program is in its first year and will continue through April. The goal is for the students to learn about their role in the community and complete the year with a service project. About nine committees create a theme for the month and accompanying activities.

So far the program has been a success, said Jeff Novorr, co-director of PIECE and a Lawrence Memorial Hospital executive.

He and co-director Kirsten Flory, who works as a business development representative for KU Credit Union, are 2006 graduates of the chamber’s Leadership Lawrence program, a professional development program that gives participants firsthand exposure to the infrastructure of Lawrence and Douglas County. PIECE is their community service project, which is modeled after Leadership Lawrence.

“I think I’ve had as much fun if not more fun as the students,” Novorr said. “I think from day one it has exceeded our expectations.”

He said the students have been engaged and actively participate in reflective discussions each month.

Flory said she, too, has been pleasantly surprised by the students’ receptiveness. She said ninth-graders are mature enough to handle the program yet young enough to still be “impressionable.”

“When we met them for the first time, I thought, ‘They are going to look at us and say you’ve got to be kidding me,’ but they got engaged and excited,” she said.

One student was especially receptive to a history outing that ended with pizza at Allen Fieldhouse. Flory said the student sat where the KU men’s basketball team sits during games and said, “I love my life.”

Overall, Flory and Novorr said they think they are reaching the students, but it is a challenge to understand the age group.

“You don’t know what they are thinking, their objective, priorities,” Novorr said. “Hopefully what we’re doing is showing them that there is more to everything … all the different aspects of theater, a basketball game or making a school run, there are so many behind-the-scenes things that have to happen, and for someone trying to figure out what’s my place in life, there are tons of opportunities and needs that the general public just doesn’t see. Hopefully that’s what they are learning.”

They are also hopeful the 20 students are spreading word about the project at their schools to entice their peers to apply next year. Flory said she also wants students to make a positive impact on others’ lives after they graduate.

“My hope is that we can engage as many kids as we can outside of the program because of their connection to someone in the PIECE Project,” she said.