Alumni Comments
Class 7 (1995-1997)
LeadAR assisted me in learning about many of the important issues
that face the state of Arkansas and its people.
This challenges me to continue to learn about the important issues
of today for the state. It also provided a large network of
people and talents that assist in solving the challenges found in
our communities today. I developed friendships and
relationships that continue to grow and develop today. These
relationships are critical to the leadership development of the
state of Arkansas.
Stephen Copley
Class 7
Methodist Minister-North Little Rock
Chairman of the Arkansas Friendship Coalition
There are so many good memories of my time in the LeadAR program.
One that stands out in my mind is seeing so much of Arkansas in a
way I could never have done otherwise.
Driving through on a highway is not like meeting people and
seeing them in their town. Of course, I will always remember the
people I met in LeadAR. What a neat group. Rooming with someone
different each time helped us really get to know each other. I loved
the whole experience and would recommend it to anyone.
Sandra Reynolds
Class 7
Community leader-Harrison
For me, LeadAR was life changing. The program taught me not only
how to set goals, but how to achieve them. In 1996, my LeadAR class
was given the assignment to bring the most precious thing we had to
the next three-day weekend with the group. I traveled to my family’s
one-hundred-year-old farm and walked out into one of the fields and
scooped up enough soil to fill a small jar. I took my jar to a
restaurant and sat with 36 classmates and shared with them my love
for our farm. I began to understand what my purpose in life was - to
share agriculture. Over the course of the next two years, I focused
on creating a program for children that would teach them about the
farm and how it affects their lives. As of today, I’ve made
agricultural presentations, conducted summer camps, organized field
trips for hundreds of children in Arkansas. I’ve been privileged to
be on the first Arkansas Women in Agriculture steering committee and
organize the first Arkansas Ag Day at the Capital. LeadAR took me
places I had only dreamed of until I went through the program. It
was life changing.
Debbie Sheppard
Class 7-Reydell
Without LeadAR, I truly feel I would not be a state
representative today. LeadAR gave me the skills and confidence I
needed to meet people, speak before the public and, most of all, to
better understand how to serve my constituents. I learned how to
listen to people and to take their thoughts and ideas and develop
action plans. I learned how to initiate those plans to actually make
things happen that are good for the community.
The creation and establishment of a primary care medical clinic
was my "project." LeadAR supplied me with the contacts and skills to
get funding for the clinic and to successfully implement the
project. My project was completed in 1996. The clinic is still a
viable clinic that has been expanded to include a dental clinic and
a pharmacy. Without the help of LeadAR staff and my classmates, this
clinic would not be open today and the people of my hometown would
be without medical care.
Clark Hall
Class 7
Arkansas State Representative
District 13-Marvell
It is hard to describe the positive effects LeadAR has had on my
life. I came from a rural area of Southern CA., but never really
became involved in what made the state or country work. Being able
to experience first hand what makes our state and federal government
work is really an indescribable experience. The people and
experiences I had could not be replaced by anything imaginable. They
have been life-changing and truly irreplaceable. You get what you
give from LeadAR, but it is truly something that cannot be
conceivable until you have experienced it.
Marvelle Stines
Class 7 - Rudd
Cattle rancher/Small business owner
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