2019-20 Projects

The Born Learning Trail

Team members: Jessica Barnes, Erica Camarillo, Shelly Larsen, Anne Lee

Mentors: Gene Maffit, Helen Sorensen, Sharon Messerschmidt

Goal: To create a learning trail for families to enjoy in Dakota County. They worked with United Way and the City of South Sioux City to establish a learning trail on the sidewalk near the playground at Crystal Cove Park in South Sioux City. Signs will be in English and Spanish. The stenciling on the sidewalk and the installation of the sign posts will have to wait until next spring due to weather. A great addition to community that will be used by families for years to come.

Jackson Community Club

Team Members: Melissa Lanzourakis, Randi Morten, Mikel Ardley and Brendyn Richards

Mentor: Stephanie Hirsch

Goal: To start the conversation in Jackson about the need for a Community Club. They also worked hard to support local businesses by holding their meetings at the Lariat Bar.

Cardinal Festival

Team Members: Shayla Becker, Jesse Hinrichs, Brad Newton, Josiah Boneschans

Mentors: Pamela Coenen, Oscar Gomez

Goal: To plan a fantastic Cardinal Festival in South Sioux City. Their ideas were awesome and fun... and then COVID hit! No Cardinal Festival this summer, but their efforts helped to expand the volunteer base as well as financial support. This group vows to work on Cardinal Festival in the summer of 2021 and implement some of their great ideas.

Heartland Counseling Services

Team Members: Chris Erickson, Ray Thomas, Brian VanBerkum, Dee Xayabanha, Michelle Kuester

Mentors: Jennifer Jackson, Sam Gomez

Goal: To build outdoor games for Heartland Counseling to use with their clients and for use at outdoor festivals and events. With permission to use the South Sioux City Schools shop class area, the members used their carpentry skills to construct a corn hole set, giant Jenga, washer cup toss game, ring toss and 3 hole washer game. They did this under budget and created a QR code to aid in checkout of the games as a tracking method.

2018-19 Projects

Team Scenic Splash - Generating Community Support for a Splash Pad

Team members: Shawna Messerlie (leader), Jesus Jimenez, Gene Maffit, Marcy Sellman

Mentors: Oscar Gomez

Team The Diblers - Design for Movie Wall (Create and Apply a Positive Message for South Sioux City)

Team members: Jalissa Hattig (leader), Brenda Hernandez, Troy Launsby, Alma Villicana

Mentors: Pam Coenen and Lizbeth Ramirez

Team Pantry Raid - Mobile Food Pantry

Team members: Amy Williams (leader), Jacquelyn Brummond, Tyler Hawkins, Rochelle Nelsen, Marybeth Quattlebaum

Mentors: Jennifer Jividen and Dawn Kimmel

Team The Greeters - Make Dakota County a Welcoming Community

Team members: Lori Brown (leader), Amy Chabra, Roger Bentz, Veronica Guzman, Tina Mellick

Mentors: Heidi Oligmueller and Stephanie Hirsch

Description of Project: Our team realizes moving to a new place can be stressful and scary. That is why we wanted to create something that made our new friends and stakeholders feel welcomed and the love of the community! Many people remember being new at one point in their life. Our team felt it was vital to Dakota County to make our new residents feel a sense of being welcomed into their new homes. Therefore, we decided to create a multi-language brochure that equipped our new residence with the necessary tools to start their new life here. Languages we chose were English, Spanish, Somali, Oromo and Tigrinya.

What happens next: Our Multilanguage brochures were delivered in a hard copy format and a PDF version was provided along with a digital copy sent to each individual village water department. The water department is going to update brochures when needed and deliver to our new residents when new residents call to turn on their water. The water department is also giving the information we provided to the village web designer to update on their website.

Team No Longer Forgotten - Korean War Memorial

Team members: Jared Noteboom (leader), Megan Dickinson, Abbey Jividen, Kayla Logan, Ed Mahon.

This team is dedicated to creating a Korean War Memorial in the essence of the memorial found in Washington, DC. This group is actively fundraising with the larger Siouxland Freedom Park committee, working with Port Neal Welding to create 19 life-size two-dimensional sheet metal figures and guiding this project to fruition.

Mentors: Helen Sorensen and Sam Gomez

2016-17 Projects

Trees of Hope

Group Members: Paola Velazquez, Bruce Malcom, Darla Robley, Michelle Halladay

Our leadership group wanted to start a program that would have an impact in our community and help in many ways with families in
need. As a group we wanted to have a sustainable program that will give us great results. This is how the idea of Trees of Hope started. 

Our Mission:  Our mission was to provide families in need with a Christmas tree during the holiday season.  The evergreen tree has been known as an ancient symbol of life in the midst of winter, which much resembles our mission to not only to provide families in need with a tree, but to help restore faith and hope in their lives.  We hope that this mission ongoing to serve as many families as possible in the Siouxland Area for as long as possible. 

2020 Update: The project continues and gave away 15 trees to families that would not have had a Christmas tree for Christmas 2019.  Fifteen families that had a brighter Christmas because of their efforts.  Thanks to Heartland Counseling Services for providing the sustainability efforts to continue to this project.

2015-16 Projects

Planting nut bearing trees at South Sioux City Orchard

At the conclusion of the December Leadership Dakota County session, our group (Roger Heck, Corrinna Lenort, Jamie Modicue, and Alyssa Silhacek) was formed. Roger Heck was selected as the group leader. In reviewing possible project ideas with Kelly Flynn, group advisor, the group opted to plant fruit bearing bushes at the City’s orchard as a possible project.

On May 14, 2016, the group met with Gene Maffit (City of South Sioux City), Carol Larvick (UNL Extension Office), a master gardener, and high school student volunteers to complete the project. Group members assisted with the planting of nut bearing trees instead of fruit bearing bushes due to weather delays orchard organizers were experiencing. Overall, more than fifty nut bearing trees of varying types were planted. Group members were instructed how to plant the trees so that we might then teach the student volunteers how to plant them.

This project complements the existing orchard, a previous Leadership Dakota County project, and will provide long-term benefits to Dakota County. The nut bearing trees will serve as a useful educational tool. The project will also help to further beautify and improve the appearance of Memorial Park. Lastly, our project will also encourage future opportunities for community partnerships and collaboration as the area will be maintained by local master gardeners and volunteers.

Several leadership skills were needed to carry out the project. To ensure that the project was completed, our group members needed to divide tasks when necessary. We were also able to collaborate with local leaders and organizations that are invested in the orchard and its sustainability. This required us to lead by doing and to focus on working alongside a larger group to serve our community.

From this project, our group members feel we have made a positive impact on our community. As trees were planted, orchard organizers recorded the individuals planting trees, and we will be able to see the trees grow over time as we visit and volunteer at the orchard. The trees will continue to grow and provide for our community members for years to come.