Leadership Dripping Springs graduates third class

DS CHAMBER

Leadership Dripping Springs held a graduation ceremony for its third class on Tuesday August 28, at the Hill Country Bible Church.

Leadership Dripping Springs is hands-on, eight-month course hosted by the Dripping Springs Chamber of Commerce, designed to introduce residents to multifaceted aspects of the communityranging from infrastructure such as health care and waste water, to city government, to other aspects that make up Dripping Springs.

It is patterned after courses offered by the Chambers of Commerce in cities such as Austin and Dallas, and is broad enough that even longterm residents are surprised at how much they learn, and how many connections they make. “Our objective is to encourage people to get involved with the community, and give them the tools and resources they need to make a difference,” said Susan Kimball, President of the Dripping Springs Chamber of Commerce.

This year’s graduates are: Christy Braun of Corridor Title; Tereasa Carbajal Ravet of Sententia Vera Cultural Club; Fawn Crosby of Cornerstone Home Lending; Katie Dickinson of WHIM Hospitality; Dr. Bruce Gearing of Dripping Springs ISD; Cody George of Magnolia Realty; Phillip Granger of Pioneer Bank; Leah Harlig of Essential Next Steps; Ben Ingram of SouthStar Bank; Walter Krudop with ESD #1 (EMS); Dennis Lane of Lane Chiropractic; Councilmember Taline Manassian from the City of Dripping Springs; Jeremy Marshall of Marshall Accounting & Tax; Susie Martin of Magnolia Realty; Tina Shands of Specially Designed Travel; and John Youngblood of Supreme Lending.

At the commencement, Chamber Past Chair Jason McNutt spoke about the importance of leaders creating a culture in their organizations. “People don’t leave their job, they leave their manager,” Mc-Nutt said. “You don’t hire competency, you hire someone who will fit your culture. You can always train them and create the competency.”

Also speaking at the event, Leadership Dripping Springs Co-Chair William “Bill” Little noted how Leadership Dripping Springs is unusual in the sense that in other cities, the program attracts people who want to become leaders in their community, while in Dripping, the program attracts people who are already leaders, but who wish to learn more about their community. Class three students included Dripping Springs ISD Superintendent Dr. Bruce Gearing and ESD #1 (EMS) President Walter Krudop.

As a requirement for graduation, class members are asked to breakout into groups and work on a community project. This year, the class broke into two groups, both of which worked on area signage.

One group worked on a city sign project, whose mission was to “Liaison between the City Historic Commission, The Visitors Bureau, and the City of Dripping Springs to facilitate the design of city signs to increase the visibility and drive traffic to the business along the Historic District of Dripping Springs.”

The second group designed and created signs for the mountain bike trails on Dripping Springs Ranch Park, and both groups gave presentations of their projects at the graduation ceremony.

After the presentations, newly installed Dripping Springs Chamber President Susan Kimball presented the graduation documents, as each class member walked across the stage.

Applications are currently being taken for class four of Leadership Dripping Springs. Interested parties can call the Chamber at (512) 858-7000 for more information.