The Hancock Youth Leadership Academy (HYLA) held a graduation ceremony for its eighth class of junior high students on Wednesday, May 1, 2019 at Saint Stanislaus’ College Cafe. The graduation was the culmination of a program that began in January. Seventeen bright young students displaying strong leadership potential from all four area middle schools were chosen to participate in the program. Over the course of the last five months, HYLA students engaged in a series of sessions that developed and strengthened their self-awareness and leadership styles, exposed them to local government and county and municipal administration to promote civic engagement, increased their awareness of the importance of small business and industry to the health of the community, and demonstrated the role of the arts in sustaining a community’s culture.
