Members of the 2025-2026 Leadership Tomorrow Class comprised of Calloway County and Murray High school junior, and seniors kicked off their Leadership Tomorrow Class at the Calloway County Public Library. Sandy Linn, CCPL Community Relations Coordinator, and library staff members provided tours to the group of the new facility. Dr. David Meinschein, EdD., Murray Independent School District Superintendent, Tres Settles, Calloway County School Superintendent, Whitney York, MISD Assistant Superintendent, Tony Jarvis, MHS principal, Bobby Love, CCHS principal, were on hand to welcome the group.
Catherine Lanier, The Murray Bank vice-president of Human Resources and Leadership Tomorrow Steering Committee member, and Nathan Carter, a Maxwell Leadership Certified Coach, led a values-minded approach to the young high school leaders. Shawn Smee, Murray State University Director of Recruitment and Leadership Tomorrow liaison, talked to students during their lunch provided by Murray State University.
Heidi Shultz, Calloway County Independence Bank president, provided the afternoon program. Students were broken into groups and each group of students were given $25 to participate in the Independence Bank’s Here For Good Program. Students worked collaboratively to share kindness and goodwill throughout the downtown community and made donations to charitable community organizations.
Members of this year’s class from Calloway County and Murray High schools:
Calloway County High School Students: Idaly Alavarado, Halle Allred, Jackson Ames, Jolijah Arrieta, Kaylee Cooper, Cindy Damian, Emma Grooms, Trent Jones, William Lanier, Kameron Myers, Connor Pile, Allie Speelman, and Ryan Turman.
Murray High School Students: Reilly Basset, Grierre Bourque, Mya Brown, Will Burkeen, Ellie Chetwatee, Logan Dodd, Hanna Elmore, Flora Falwell, Sophie Georgiou, Tyson Gibson, Connor Hall, Emma Haynes, Owen Howell, Naya James, Nate Johnston, Madyson Martin, Tanner Morgan, Vanessa Oster, Krishiv Patel, Aubrey Robinson, Taquari Sanders, Addison Shultz, Olivia Smee, Avery Starks, Claire Wilcher, Carter Wilson, Ximara Ziiel-JKortova
Established by former director Jean Bennett and the late Mark Kennedy (both graduates of Leadership Murray), Leadership Tomorrow has been a viable program for the past 30 plus years. Today the partnership with Murray State University provides meals to the Leadership Tomorrow students at Winslow Cafeteria during each monthly meeting and funds the bus transportation incurred with CCSD and MISD bus transportation. The group meets once a month for community-based outings including Law/Government, Agriculture, Arts, Community Resources, Health, and Business Industry days. As a culmination event, the group travels to Washington, D.C., and students create a service project, as well as a fund-raising initiative to assist the community, and generate funds for their trip. This year the group will assist in efforts to debut the Community Education MKY Cares Mistletoe Marketplace at the Area Technology Center. The event will host vendors from the region and student groups selling goods and items for their programs and to assist the community’s non-profit organizations.
Students apply by application each year. A committee blindly scores each application, and students are accepted into the program based on final rubric scoring results. This year’s group includes 41 junior and senior students from Calloway County and Murray High School. The group is directed by Sherry Purdom, Community Education Director, Mechelle Morgan, Leadership Tomorrow Steering Committee member and MISD Instructional Technology Director, and Calloway County Leadership Tomorrow Directors, Jennifer Ernstberger, and Ashley Fritsche. Shawn Smee, MSU Director of Recruitment, also serves as an advisor to the program.