Chesapeake Energy Honors Eight Winners Of Leadership Program at Banquet

FAIRFIELD BAY, Ark. (May 6, 2009) – The eight weekly winners of the “Discovering Tomorrow’s Leaders” from Van Buren County high schools were honored at a banquet last night at the Indian Hills County Club.  The students, who are members of either the Van Buren County 4-H Club and/or the Future Farmers of America organization, had been nominated and selected over an eight-week period for their outstanding leadership.
The winning students are Gwendlyn Bradley, a junior at Shirley High School; Seth Moore, a senior at South Side High School; Ashley Kirk, a senior at Clinton High School; Taylor Burgess, a sophomore at Shirley High School; Shelby Linck, a senior at South Side High School; Abigail Gates, a sophomore at Clinton High School; Kristen Worthing, a senior at Shirley High School, and Sierra Leonard, a senior at South Side High School.
As sponsor of the “Discovering Tomorrow’s Leaders” program, Chesapeake Energy is donating a computer to each high school in the name of the winning student.   Kirk and Gates each won their own personal laptop computer at the banquet.
Danny Games, director of corporate development for Chesapeake Energy in Arkansas, applauded the students for being selected.
“We’ve come together tonight to salute and honor some outstanding young leaders from Van Buren County – students whose character, leadership and commitment to their school and community have been recognized by the teachers, parents, friends and community leaders who nominated them as Tomorrow’s Leaders,” Games said.
“Chesapeake sought to identify future leaders from Van Buren County schools who are already paving the way to a better community through their leadership, academic and community involvement.”
The Van Buren County Democrat and the Fairfield Bay News, along with KFFB-Radio were media partners for the program.
The “Discovering Tomorrow’s Leaders” program was open to all students in Van Buren County.  Parents, teachers and community leaders were encouraged to nominate deserving students beginning in February.  A winner was selected each week for eight weeks beginning the first week of March.  Each student winner was featured in the partner newspapers and in a radio spot on KFFB, as well as on the media partner’s Web sites.