GAYLORD, MICHIGAN – The Ypsilanti Area Jaycees received several honors at the Michigan Junior Chamber’s Fall Leadership Conference and Annual Meeting held here on Oct. 4-6 at the Treetops Resorts and Conference Center.
The highlight of the weekend was the chapter’s 5th place finish in the Parade of Chapters. The Parade of Chapters is a ranking of chapters from across the state, awarding points based upon member involvement, community development, and communications within and outside of the organization.
The chapter received a pair of Vice President’s Awards of Excellence from State VPs Bridgette Rillema and Julie Abshire. The Ypsilanti Area Jaycees were recognized with an Award of Excellence in the Community Development area from Rillema. Noted highlights for the Community Development programming in the second trimester were involvement in ReLeaf Michigan’s tree nursery planting days, a partnership with Growing Hope’s raised bed installations, and this year’s Relay for Life fundraising.
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James Dreher received a Management Development Award of Excellence for the second time this year from Abshire. Abshire remarked about Dreher’s approach to the Management Development area with a mix of both creativity and analytics to build a strategy for his chapter.
Dreher also picked up three additional individual honors over the weekend. On Friday night, Dreher won Prepared Speak-Up competition, a public speaking competition where competitors are given a topic to prepared for in advance. On Saturday, Dreher received is 6th degree from the Junior Chamber and placed 3rd in the statewide Local Vice Presidents’ parade. The Degrees of Jaycees program is a program to encourage member involvement while gaining a well-rounded Junior Chamber experience.
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Angel Vanas also received a new degree from the Michigan Junior Chamber. Vanas received her 2nd Degree.
Also in individual competitions, 2013 Local President Rose Peruski advanced to the final round of Michigan’s Got Talent.
The Ypsilanti Area Jaycees is a local chapter of the United States Junior Chamber, which represents more than 18,200 young adults in over 680 chapters across the country. Jaycee chapters focus on empowering its members to create positive change in their communities and in themselves by developing personal and professional leadership skills. For more information, please visit http://ypsilantijaycees.com .
The Michigan Jaycees will hold their 2013 Year-End Assembly and 90th Anniversary Celebration on Feb. 14-16, 2014 in Mt. Pleasant, Mich.