Students are getting an idea of what the real world is like through Youth Leadership Elmore County.
The program helps students across Elmore County get to know each other while learning skills necessary in the workplace.
PHOTOS: Youth Leadership Elmore County tours Tallassee facilities
“We have curriculum classes on speaking, communication, leadership,” Elmore County Extension’s Brenda Henson said. “We take them around and show them opportunities.”
The students from Elmore County Schools have learned team building through a program at Camp Chandler and did community service projects at the Elmore County Food Pantry and the new Millbrook Art Mill Community Arts Center.
“It’s teaching them leadership and showing part of being a leader is giving back to the community,” Henson said.
The program started about 20 years ago but stopped during the COVID-19 pandemic. It is modeled much like the adult version hosted by many chambers of commerce across the county.
The students were recently invited by the Tallassee Industrial Development Board (IDB) to tour Alabama Power’s Thurlow Dam and Gulf Packaging. Students got a chance to see how the power company uses the dam to create hydroelectric power. At Gulf Packaging students saw how corrugated boxes are made and how a job on the plant floor can lead to bigger and better things.
Gulf Packaging’s Melvin Yates told the students from Stanhope Elmore, Holtville, Elmore County and Wetumpka high schools along with some home schooled students he got out of the Air Force following the Persian Gulf War in 1993. Looking for a job he walked into a box plant. Yates said he started out on the plant floor and with work ethic he was soon running a shift.
“I wandered into a box plant and haven’t looked for a job since,” Yates said. “Thirty years later I’m over two plants. I have had as many as 31 plants. It’s all the same. Customers want what they want when they want it. They won’t accept no for an answer. We say yes as much as we can.”
Yates told the students what it takes to be successful.
“If you are dependable and have want to, you can go as far as you want to,” Yates said. “You have to be dependable by being at work on time everyday. You start missing work and have every excuse, you are going to move slow.”
Yates said it's important to pay attention to details. He explained the directions on boxes are highly important as the pennies lost in each box quickly add up affecting the company’s bottom line.
“We are fighting for pennies to make money on these boxes,” Yates said. “If the machine isn’t running right, I can’t be competitive in the marketplace.”
Yates said problem solving skills are essential for employees as well, and it’s yet another option for those who don’t want to pursue an advanced diploma.
“You can start with a high school diploma and start in a box plant working your way up all the way to plant manager,” Yates said. “The paper industry is a great industry because everybody needs boxes.”
Tallassee Mayor Sarah Hill also spoke with the students at the Tallassee IDB. Hill explained to students how a small city government works and some of the challenges of being the first female mayor in Tallassee.
“You have to learn to stand your ground in a respectful manner,” Hill told the students. “I can work with almost anyone, but you have to be respectful.”
Hill said she was a graduate of Leadership Elmore County and noticed something about the group gathered at the IDB.
“I don’t see any Tallassee students,” Hill said. “Maybe next year we can change that.”
The students have also visited Maxwell Gunter to learn about the military and with the Elmore County Commission to learn about county government. They’ll tour the capitol next month.
