The Citizen
AUBURN - Meg Wallenbeck's face was flushed as her hands reached to flip the pages of her presentation. The words raced out of her mouth so quickly that she had trouble catching her breath.
“I'm nervous, so I'm talking really, really fast,” she joked with the audience gathered at Auburn Memorial Hospital Wednesday for the project presentations of Leadership Cayuga's Class of 2006.
This year, there are 16 students in Leadership Cayuga, a six-month course run by the Cayuga County Chamber of Commerce. Participants' projects focused on analyzing a local problem or idea and finding new and different ways to approach it.
Since January, Wallenbeck, a senior counselor at Unity House of Cayuga County, has worked with a group of three other individuals to examine the possibility of creating an arts and culture district in downtown Auburn, as well as the effect the Auburn Public Theater will have on the area.
Other topics included Owasco Lake stewardship, cultural diversity and education, and condominium housing in downtown Auburn.
Shawn Stewart, a process engineer with Nucor Steel of Auburn,
was part of the group that researched downtown housing. His team determined that condos are a possibility - with the right amount of work, grants and investors.
Fellow student Sid Cuff, of the Institute for the Application of Geospatial Technology, presented some existing buildings in Auburn where condos could work, including the Kalet's building on State Street and the old Auburn Floors building on Genesee Street.
“I like to maintain things, to keep everything up,” Stewart said, explaining his reasons for signing on with the revitalization topic. “(I) don't like to give up on things, I guess.”
Ginny Kent, coordinator of Leadership Cayuga, was proud of the groups.
“I was very impressed with the amount of research they compiled,” she said. “You can see them getting lost in the presentation because they're so knowledgeable about it.”
The Leadership Cayuga program began in 1989 and has graduated nearly 400 people since its inception. Many, like Stewart, who recently moved to the region after living for eight years in Mississippi, apply for the program to get to know the area better. Students meet as a class twice a month and have various requirements - such as attending county Legislature meetings or visiting public schools - in addition to their long-term projects.
“You get to learn a lot about what's going on around you that you don't necessarily pick up from the papers or the news,” Stewart said. “I think you just become a better citizen.”
For Beth Miller, of IAGT, the program offered the opportunity to flex her acting muscle.
Part of Wallenbeck's group, Miller was the final presenter of the day. She performed a short play that she had penned based on her more formal written work.
In it, she emphasized the importance of the Auburn Public Theater by taking on the roles of such characters as Elizabeth Cady Stanton and the mayor of Auburn.
“The theater is the last place on earth where magic ... magic can still happen,” said Miller.
Staff writer Linda Ober can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 237 or linda.ober@lee.net
“I'm nervous, so I'm talking really, really fast,” she joked with the audience gathered at Auburn Memorial Hospital Wednesday for the project presentations of Leadership Cayuga's Class of 2006.
This year, there are 16 students in Leadership Cayuga, a six-month course run by the Cayuga County Chamber of Commerce. Participants' projects focused on analyzing a local problem or idea and finding new and different ways to approach it.
Since January, Wallenbeck, a senior counselor at Unity House of Cayuga County, has worked with a group of three other individuals to examine the possibility of creating an arts and culture district in downtown Auburn, as well as the effect the Auburn Public Theater will have on the area.
Other topics included Owasco Lake stewardship, cultural diversity and education, and condominium housing in downtown Auburn.
Shawn Stewart, a process engineer with Nucor Steel of Auburn,
was part of the group that researched downtown housing. His team determined that condos are a possibility - with the right amount of work, grants and investors.
Fellow student Sid Cuff, of the Institute for the Application of Geospatial Technology, presented some existing buildings in Auburn where condos could work, including the Kalet's building on State Street and the old Auburn Floors building on Genesee Street.
“I like to maintain things, to keep everything up,” Stewart said, explaining his reasons for signing on with the revitalization topic. “(I) don't like to give up on things, I guess.”
Ginny Kent, coordinator of Leadership Cayuga, was proud of the groups.
“I was very impressed with the amount of research they compiled,” she said. “You can see them getting lost in the presentation because they're so knowledgeable about it.”
The Leadership Cayuga program began in 1989 and has graduated nearly 400 people since its inception. Many, like Stewart, who recently moved to the region after living for eight years in Mississippi, apply for the program to get to know the area better. Students meet as a class twice a month and have various requirements - such as attending county Legislature meetings or visiting public schools - in addition to their long-term projects.
“You get to learn a lot about what's going on around you that you don't necessarily pick up from the papers or the news,” Stewart said. “I think you just become a better citizen.”
For Beth Miller, of IAGT, the program offered the opportunity to flex her acting muscle.
Part of Wallenbeck's group, Miller was the final presenter of the day. She performed a short play that she had penned based on her more formal written work.
In it, she emphasized the importance of the Auburn Public Theater by taking on the roles of such characters as Elizabeth Cady Stanton and the mayor of Auburn.
“The theater is the last place on earth where magic ... magic can still happen,” said Miller.
Staff writer Linda Ober can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 237 or linda.ober@lee.net
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