On Tuesday, the Lawrence County Commissioners had a group of special guests, members of Lawrence County Civic Scholars Fellowship.

The fellowship was started five years ago by the commissioners for junior and senior high school students to learn how government works by shadowing officeholders and to become community leaders. They spent the day at the courthouse and attended the meeting to see how the county takes care of issues like transfer of funds, accepting reports from various departments and then interacts with department heads and members of the community.

Dylan Bentley, acting administrator, had the Civic Scholars come up to the podium and introduce themselves. 

Commissioner DeAnna Holliday said it was always a joy to have them come to the meeting and told them they were welcomed “with open arms.”

“Some of you probably already know what you want to do in the future and some may not. I have had students in the past come in, thinking they wanted to do one thing but because of their experience here, they changed their minds,” she said. “We are excited to have you here.”

She added she couldn’t wait to see their projects in April and see where their journey leads them.

Commissioner Mike Finley asked them specifically if they knew what they wanted to do.

Most of them said they would like to go into the medical field to give back to their community, another wanted to go the U.S. Naval Academy. One wanted to become a local business owner.

“It’s okay if you don’t know yet,” Commissioner Colton Copley said.

Finley said it was especially okay because “like DeAnna said, you will change your mind.”

“Multiple times probably,” Holliday added. “And if you don’t, that’s okay too. Some of us know early on what we want to be. I’ve changed my mind several times.”

To become a Civic Scholar, students submit a video in the fall and then the scholars are selected based on their commitment to learn and grow. 

The scholars go to the courthouse for program training.This consists of roundtables, where they hear from and ask questions to elected officials and department heads, and where they learn design thinking, which is a problem-solving process they use in their internship. The DT training is provided by the Marshall University iCenter.

The students are then placed in various county offices and paired with a mentor. They are required to spend three full eight hour days shadowing and learning from their mentors. 

To give purpose to their time in the offices, scholars are also tasked with completing a project through using design thinking that seeks to apply their learnings and give back to their office. 

“We encouraged them in the trainings that this is an opportunity to give back, and the importance of not just “taking” from the program and their mentors, but also “giving” something back. They present these projects at the reception we hold at the end of the program,” Bentley said.

This year’s Civic Scholars includes McKayla Burriss, a junior at Chesapeake High School; Isabella James, a senior at Fairland High School, Annabella Weinsweig, Molly Dunlap, Nour Alourani, Isabelle Swindler and Dani Fitzpatrick, all juniors at Fairland High School; Dillon Collins, a senior at Fairland High School and Collins Career and Technical Center, Gavin Simpson, Ian Whaley, Alex Gnau, Blake Medinger, all juniors at St. Joseph Central Catholic High School; William Scott Salyers, a junior at Sugar Creek Christian Academy; and Reese Ingles, a junior at Symmes Valley High School.