Newly-selected Junior Leaders crowd around sign-up sheets to choose county events at which they want to serve. Newly-selected Junior Leaders crowd around sign-up sheets to choose county events at which they want to serve.

For 30 rising high school juniors across Franklin County, ten months of intensive community service are about to begin.

The Franklin County Chamber of Commerce held orientation for the newest crop of Junior Leaders Sunday. The time-honored Junior Leadership program exposes selected students to a wide range of opportunities for helping the community, like serving dinners at the Fam City Banquet and Cattlemen’s Association Banquet; assisting at community festivals like the Spirit of Hodges and Spruce Pine Day; and playing a part in executing the chamber’s biggest events of the year, like the Watermelon Festival and the Franklin County Partnership Awards Banquet.

There’s no arguing that being part of Junior Leadership is a serious commitment for these teenagers. Jocelyne Solares “thought it would look good on my resume.” Ashton Moore joined to “help the county,” and Preston Goad wants to “become a better leader” and “learn about Franklin County.”

Perhaps no one better understands the magnitude of this program than chamber director Cassie Medley.

“They’re dreading the work, but once it’s all over with, they will miss it and will have accomplished something huge. They will have grown a ton in how they communicate with people,” Medley said. “Right now they are probably a little scared of me and scared of what they have to do, but they will be fine. They will learn so much.”

The Junior Leaders have hit the ground running with a Leadership Skills session yesterday and a team building day at Rock Bridge Canyon today, and the students will stay busy through April 2017.