Photo courtesy of Mountain Brook Chamber of Commerce.
The members of the 2021-22 class of Leadership Mountain Brook got together at Mountain Brook City Hall in August. L-R: Robert Morrow, Lindsey-Kate McElroy, Ida Rutkoff, Saylors Pursell, Lucy Evans (yellow dress), Margaret Nichols, Ann Woodke, Bella Donner, Brendan Mitchell, Knox Herren, Matthew Walton, Andrew Ashford, JT Christian and John White (last going up the steps).
Society can’t function without leadership, making it a critical quality to nurture in young people.
For a decade, Leadership Mountain Brook — a partnership between the Mountain Brook Chamber of Commerce, the city of Mountain Brook and the Business Education Department at Mountain Brook High School — has nurtured this attribute in young people.
Each year, a group of MBHS students works with the chamber, the city and other stakeholders to complete projects they believe will make the community better.
The program “helps train future leaders that will hopefully represent Mountain Brook well in the world and possibly even come back to leaders in Mountain Brook in the future,” said Molly Wallace, chamber project manager.
The LMB students want to make a real difference.
“I didn’t want to leave Mountain Brook without leaving my mark on the city I grew up in,” MBHS junior Franklin Day — a member of the 2020-21 LMB class — told Village Living in February.
The new LMB class is already in action for the 2021-22 school year.
The students taking part in the class are as follows:
► Andrew Ashford
► JT Christian
► Bella Donner
► Lucy Evans
► Knox Herren
► Lindsey-Kate McElroy
► Brendan Mitchell
► Robert Morrow
► Margaret Nichols
► Saylors Pursell
► Ida Rutkoff
► Matthew Walton
► John White
► Ann Woodke
The group has a new teacher this year, Margaret Denton, a MBHS graduate who grew up in Mountain Brook.
In her 13th year of teaching, Denton spent her last six years at Vestavia Hills High School, where she taught career preparedness, law in society and personal finance and served as work-based learning coordinator.
Denton replaces Amber Benson, who left MBHS to teach at Hewitt-Trussville High School.
At press time, Denton and her LMB students were talking to the chamber about new projects for the group and would be forming committees in the upcoming weeks.
However, there are several ongoing projects the group will to work on.
“We will continue the HumansofMB Instagram page, a page that features stories about individuals in Mountain Brook,” Denton said.
LMB has also started a new Instagram page, LeadershipMountainBrook, which features updates on the class throughout the school year, as well as community stories, she said.
The students hope to complete the disc golf course the Mountain Brook City Council approved last school year.
They’ll also raise money to put more bricks in Spartan Square at City Hall.
Taking part in LMB is a valuable experience for students because it gives them “real-life experiences” outside of the classroom, Denton said.
“Not only do students learn about how their community runs, they also have the opportunity to gain skills in teamwork, leadership, working with adults, interviewing and presenting projects in a real-life setting,” she said.
The LMB participants are always impressive, Wallace said,
“These students are nominated by teachers, have to go through an interview process and often times they have to make the difficult decision to pick between LMB or playing sports or other extracurriculars that would eat into their class duties,” Wallace said in February. “They are always a driven group, but I particularly enjoy watching them get to know each other and begin working as a team together. They also serve as volunteers for many chamber events and projects, and we couldn’t do what we do without them.”
Denton earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Auburn University in Business/Marketing Education.
In addition to LMB, Denton teaches COOP and Business Technology I and II.
For more about LMB, go to mtnbrookchamber.org/leadership-mountain-brook.
