Retired Teacher Ginnie Poole Takes Leadership Seriously
 | Author:
Nancy Marks, Reporter
Nancy Marks: MT43 News Secretary and News Editor |
Retired Teacher Ginnie Poole Takes Leadership Seriously
Nancy Marks
Reporter
Retired middle school teacher Ginnie Poole said the Big Sky Big Leadership course she took beginning last fall, was the best she had ever attended. The leadership course, sponsored by MSU Extension, was taught by Extension Agent Allison Kosto.
The fourteen members attended one class monthly in the mornings for nine months, then toured around Broadwater County to learn about businesses in the community and what makes the county tick. “Some of the places we visited I, who have lived in this community a long while, had never visited. We went to Canyon Ferry Dam, to the Graymont Lime plant for a tour and to the new Bridger Brewery. Another particularly interesting business we visited was the man who is renovating Air Stream recreational vehicles out on Highway 284. Everywhere we went we learned how business owners operated and why they got started in what they were doing,” she explained.
Ginnie had considered joining the nine-month class, even though she felt at her age she would have little to contribute to the community. Then she spoke with a former student of hers, Jeff Kirksey, who had taken the class. He encouraged her to join so she did.
“We learned so much about how to use leadership skills to solve conflicts in meetings and work with different leadership styles, but more than that, we learned how important it is to be knowledgeable about what’s going on in Broadwater County,” she said.
The class taught her how important it is to sign up for county boards and nonprofit organizations to get involved and make changes for the better in Broadwater County. One of the class members’ final projects was to set up an opportunity to interest new people in town to get involved. The group tagged on to Billings Clinic Broadwater’s Health Fair last spring at Heritage Park. “We reached out to fairgoers to try to interest them in becoming volunteers. Whether we were successful remains to be seen,” she explained.
Another fruitful project the group worked on was helping build a public presence for The Lodge of Townsend. They thought few people were aware of how much goes on at the privately owned former Masonic Lodge. They contacted Carla Amundson of the Broadwater Community Theater, Tina Homann, owner of the Lodge, and graphic specialist LaRinda Spencer to create a poster that illustrates all the activities for both children and adults that take place at the Lodge. “It will be out soon,” she said.
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