Colony Leadership Academy: Moultrie 2022

This past weekend, we had the pleasure of taking our second year Colony Leadership Academy youth to our second in-person trip in Moultrie. We started the weekend with our UGA Fanning group teaching lessons in Communication at the Colquitt County Arts Center. Before dinner, our special guest speaker Mayor Bill McIntosh, spoke to the students and welcomed them to Moultrie. After dinner, we headed to the Colquitt County High School’s indoor football complex to play kickball.

On Saturday, we visited Southern Valley Foods and toured their facility. Students learned about careers in agriculture and how Southern Valley grows and prepares vegetables to ship out to retailers. The next stop was Sunbelt Ag Expo where the UGA Fanning group helped our CLA youth practice resume writing, prepare for interviews, and practice public speaking. They also received a tour of the facilities at the Sunbelt Expo where we learned about the different crops they test in the fields there. The day concluded with a tour of IFCO Seedlings where we learned about the pine seedlings process from start to finish: how they plant, grow, and sell them. The Colony Leadership Academy youth also presented donations of $1,000 each to the United Way of Colquitt County (on behalf of Southern Valley Foods), Colquitt County Educational Foundation (on behalf of the Sunbelt Ag Expo), and the Hero House (on behalf of IFCO Seedlings).

We had an amazing time with our CLA youth and know they learned many lessons of leadership and experienced great opportunities this weekend. We look forward to bringing everyone back together at our next session in August.