By Dr. J. Robert McClure III, JMI President & CEO
Letter to the Editor of the Tallahassee Democrat regarding Youth Leadership Tallahassee’s Government and Education Day:We understand why it’s common for citizens to give government leaders grief – we do that ourselves from time to time – but we also recognize that public officials often do noble things that go unnoticed and deserve a pat on the back.For example, last Tuesday, a number of our local officials shared a nice, quiet lunch with 36 area students participating in Youth Leadership Tallahassee’s Government and Education Day (which JMI had the privilege of sponsoring). There were no political speeches. No television cameras. No votes to gain in next year’s elections – the students aren’t yet old enough to vote – just a friendly conversation at a small table with three or four students eager to learn about the inner workings of government. For giving their lunch hour to these high school students, we’d like to recognize Gil Ziffer, Michelle Rehwinkel Vasalinda, Nina Ashenafi Richardson, John Marks, Terry Lewis, and Maggie Lewis-Butler. We’d also like to recognize several public officials that spoke to the students during the day: Charles Canady, John Dailey, Kristen Dozier, Marvin Henderson, John Marks, and Alan Williams. We appreciate these officials’ service to our community.
2011
