Even without the tassel switch there was still a feeling of incredible accomplishment at a ceremony honoring the inaugural class of Crawford Unlimited Leadership. The first group of 16 people to complete the CU Lead program was recognized Monday at a ceremony at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church.
 
The definition of the term leader is “anyone who influences change”; and that is exactly the type of person the Crawford Unlimited Leadership is trying to cultivate. The new initiative, which is a division of Crawford 20/20 Vision, is a nine-month program that teaches leadership skills to the members of the community that have, through an application process, been recognized as the forerunners of our community; and Monday night, at St. Paul’s Church in Bucyrus, the inaugural class was honored.
 
The program included meeting once a month to do such things as team building activities and getting the opportunity to listen to other local leaders. Over dinner, members of the class chatted about their memories over the past year.
 
Victoria Hartschuh, who was an honoree for the evening, said that the program taught her a lot about herself and what she can do. And according to Jim Cox, who was the lead facilitator of the program, said that this first class really set the bar high for classes in the future. He stated a fact that echoed throughout the evening: that this program is for those who will not only be able to cultivate leadership, but to sustain it as well.
 
“The vision is a subset of the 20/20 Vision and was chartered under that. The goal is really to grow the leadership to help us with the 20/20 Vision,” Cox said. “It’s really for people to discover within themselves their leadership potential, to get them out of their comfort zone, and then really to engage in ways that will benefit Crawford County.”
 
           
Jim Kennedy, CEO of Ohio Mutual Insurance Group, spoke at the commencement and challenged the group to learn to think differently and more broadly and to pass on this leadership to the future generation. The group was reminded that, as the event at hand was a commencement, it was their job to commence, to go forward.
 
Graduates of the program honored in the ceremony were: Mike Alspach, Sheila Amore, Rick Dudics, Martin Dzugan, Eliza Fannin, Victoria Hartschuh, Brad Heinlen, Jill Lee, Allisun Lonsway, Marc Shultz, Troy Shutler, Kriste Slagle, Chris Stone, Amy Sullivan, Patricia Ulmer, and Shaun Young.