Leadership Livingston Class of 2019 Celebrate Graduation

The 26 graduates of Leadership Livingston 2019 gathered with friends, program sponsors and Leadership Livingston Alumni on Tuesday evening to celebrate their completion of the 10-month program and present their community service projects.

Three project groups dedicated a combined 545 hours of volunteer work and raised or donated $13,000 to complete three community service projects that will impact over 270,000 residents and visitors to Livingston Parish.

The project group LP Signs has been working to bring “Welcome to Livingston Parish” signs to six of the most traveled entrances into the parish. The LP Signs group chose to bring welcome signs to the parish because they noticed that they left an attractive and welcoming impression in other cities and parishes that already have them. According to Brook Johnson Labarre, LP Signs member, “We wanted to do something that would last after the class had ended and that would attract residents and guests to the Parish.” LP Signs has $10,000 of pledged support so far and are currently seeking additional funding for this project.

The project group Every Litter Bit Counts decided to join the efforts of the Livingston Parish Chamber’s Litter Initiative Committee to combat litter in the parish through cleaning, awareness and education. They volunteered a collective 230 hours on this project, including participation in a parish-wide cleanup event where they picked up 50 bags of trash. They also helped collect over 500 signatures for the Livingston Parish Chamber’s #LitterFreeLp Pledge.

The Arts Mural Project group helped raise $3,000 for the Arts Council of Livingston Parish to have a mural painted on their building in downtown Denham Springs. The mural is bright, and eye-catching and will help attract more visitors to the building and raise awareness of the programs of the council. “We wanted to highlight the classes for adults and children that the Arts Council offers in visual and performing arts. And we wanted people to start thinking that they don’t need to go to Baton Rouge to experience art, we can do it right here,” said Tina Cifreo.

Each project group selected the member they agreed went the extra mile to see their project through to completion. The three graduates were recognized at graduation with Above & Beyond Awards. From the LP Signs group, Jennifer Milton, from Every Litter Bit Counts, Tiffani Traupman and from Arts Mural Robert Reynolds were selected.

In addition to community service projects, the graduates completed a retreat with a simulated society game, received in-depth personality assessments, attended an event in the community and attended a field trip every month exploring the history, culture, government and education of Livingston Parish. Class spokesperson, Jamie Felder said, “Every single one of us has been places we had never been before and may not even have known existed and we’ve all met people we never knew and may never have known.”

Leadership Livingston program sponsors, Choices of Louisiana, First Guaranty Bank, Jefferson Financial FCU and North Oaks Health System each had representatives that address the crowd at graduation. First Guaranty Bank representative and Leadership Livingston Alumnus, Kevin Foster, said that experiencing the impact of the Leadership Livingston program on the community is a privilege.

The class of 2019 includes Tyler Brooks, EFCU; Tina Cifreo, Blount General Contractors; Stephen Davidson, City of Denham Springs; Dacia Delacerda, Jefferson Financial FCU; Jamie Etheridge, City of Walker; Justin Evans, North Oaks Health System; Jamie Felder, Livingston Parish Sheriff’s Office; Gwen Guernsey, Ochsner Medical Center and Blake Harris, Boyer Hebert, Abels & Angelle.

Also, Chelbi Johnson, Congressman Garret Graves’ Office; Lori Johnson, Hancock Whitney; Tim Kuylen, Livingston Parish President’s Office; Brooke Labarre, Covington & Associates Real Estate; Logan Labarre, Labarre Associates; Kay Mayeaux, Hancock Whitney; Paula Mayeux, Neighbors Federal Credit Union; David McCreary, Town of Livingston and Ashlyn McMorris, Erdey Insurance Agency.

Also, Jennifer Milton, Continental Kennel Club; Cherie Odom, TWRU CPA’s & Financial Advisors; Kelli Perry-Bennett, First Guaranty Bank; Robert Reynolds, Primerica; Nick Richard, All Star Nissan & Kia; Sammi Rushing, Senator Dale Erdey; Tiffani Traupman, Choices of Louisiana and Kevin Triche, II, Our Lady of the Lake.

About Leadership Livingston: Leadership Livingston is a community leadership program designed to teach and engage participants and increase their understanding of the inner workings of their parish community. Service projects, where class members get involved in making Livingston Parish better, enhance the experience for students and the Parish. Leadership Livingston is a program of the Livingston Parish Chamber of Commerce for more information visit the Chamber’s website www.livingstonparishchamberofcommerce.org, also follow Leadership Livingston’s Facebook page and the Chamber’s Facebook page.