Those 26 professionals made up the current class of Leadership Lafayette, an annual program that's the brainchild of the Lafayette Chamber of Commerce.
At its heart, the Leadership Lafayette program is an interesting creature. A class of professionals from across Acadiana spend 10 months undergoing an intense curriculum of workshops, readings, field trips and in-depth conversations with community leaders on issues affecting Lafayette. The curriculum's scope is a wide one: education, health care, economic development, law enforcement, government, social services, art and culture and even Lafayette's history are areas for exploration over the program's duration.
What surfaces on the other side of this 10-month intensive course is, hopefully, enthusiastic new community leaders with innovative solutions to some of our city's problems, and a greater sense of community between the disparate professional worlds that make up Lafayette.
This is the 24th year of Leadership Lafayette, and more than 500 alumni have survived the rigors of the program and are working to shape our city. The 27 who make up this year's class are poised to do the same: they represent the depth and breath of what Lafayette has to offer, crossing all lines of gender, race and occupation, and socioeconomic status.
Executive Director Rob Guidry said this year's crop of applicants were exceptionally diverse, proof that the program continues to attract some of the area's finest.
"The pool of applicants this year was as deep and talented as I've ever seen," he said.
We wanted to introduce the 2011 class of Leadership Lafayette and wish them luck on the coming year. We look forward to what they'll bring to Acadiana in the years to come.
