The Crookston Area Chamber’s New Leadership Crookston class is returning after a one-year hiatus in 2021 and a limited version in 2020 due to COVID-19 restrictions. New Leadership is a series of nine half-day classes that last over 16 weeks and will teach participants about leadership development for their businesses, the community, and the different areas of the Crookston community. The classes will take place on Wednesday, August 10, and will be held every two weeks on Wednesdays (except for two classes only being one week apart at the end of August) from 8:00 a.m. to noon.
According to the Chamber’s Executive Director, Mark Landa, the classes are set up so that they each focus on specific areas and subjects based on areas and parts of the community. Each class will also invite speakers that will talk about how important leadership is in their organizations and what has helped them become one in their establishment while giving advice on how the participants can develop their leadership skills. “We’ve got them set up, so they focus on specific areas, for instance, the first one on August 10, and the focus will be Health and Wellness,” Landa explained. “So, we have speakers from RiverView Health and Altru come in and talk about several different health and wellness topics. At that time, we do some team-building exercises and do a little canoeing on the Red Lake River.”
The other subjects the Chamber has scheduled are as follows –
Wednesday, August 24, the class will go to the Carnegie Library and Polk County Museum to take a walking history tour to learn more about the history of Crookston and how it came to be.
On August 31, they’ll meet with several nonprofit organizations in the community, such as United Way of Crookston, Crookston Care & Share, and the Polk County Humane Society, to complete a service project for the city.
On September 14, they will see a presentation about personal leadership development from Jodi Horntvedt at the University of Minnesota Crookston. They will also take a tour of the college campus and the other schools in Crookston.
On September 28, they will meet with KROX, the Crookston Times, and the City Council to learn about the Government and Media’s impact on the city.
On October 5, they will take tours of many local manufacturing plants in the city, and on October 19, they will take a tour of the courtrooms and jail with Judge Anne Rassmussen and the Pine to Prairie Task Force.
On November 2, they will visit American Crystal Sugar and another local farm to learn about Agriculture in Crookston.
For the final event on November 16, they will visit several local small businesses.
Registration is now open to anyone, costing $400 for Chamber Members and $500 for non-members, with the class size being limited to about 20 people. “Registration is just opening now; we will have the registration form on our website in the next day or so. We will also take those by email, and people can give me a call to ask about it and get some more information,” Director Landa explained. “We’ve had about a month to fill up the class, so we have some time, but we want people to know that it’s out and there, and it’s a great opportunity to really learn about the community.”
The deadline to sign up and turn in your registration forms for the classes will be by Friday, July 29.
To get a registration form to participate in the New Leadership events and see the schedule of the classes, you can go to the Crookston Area Chamber’s website at www.visitcrookston.com. If you have questions about any classes, you can contact Crookston Area Chamber Executive Director Mark Landa at 218-281-4320 or at mlanda@visitcrookston.com.
