Leadership Shawano County has spent 25 years developing future community leaders, and many of the past participants came together Sept. 18 at the North Star Mohican Casino Resort.
Since its inception, 423 people from across the county have taken the classes and used what they learned to make their own communities better places to live. Past classes have created long-lasting initiatives like the Boys and Girls Club of Shawano County, Sun Drop Dayz and more.
Nancy Schultz took over as executive director of the program four years ago. Although she hadn’t gone through the program herself before, Schultz believes it serves a purpose when it comes to Shawano and the other surrounding communities.
“It has been an honor to be a part of it for the last four years. I’m on my fifth class this year,” Schultz said. “To see all of the things that have happened in the last 25 years, I’m in awe. I look at our leadership. I look at our community. We have just moved mountains in our community.”
Having “a-ha” moments when students realize how things function in a community is a wonderful thing to witness, Schultz said. There are 25 students in the class that started earlier this month and will continue until May; so far, there are five proposals for community projects to be implemented, which will be whittled down to one big class effort.
All of the leadership participants so far have been adults, but Leadership Shawano County is planning to launch a new program this year aimed at high school sophomores and juniors. Schultz, who also served on the group’s steering committee from 2013-19, said right now the effort will focus on one high school and branch out in subsequent years.
“I’m excited for that,” Schultz said. “We’re creating our youth to become leaders in this community. It’s so needed.”
The program was a great fit for Uriah Williams, who was transitioning from being the pastor for Peace United Church of Christ to executive director for United Way. Williams was part of the 2025 class.
“When I was hired by United Way, the board — many of them — had been through the program,” Williams said. “They really wanted me to go through it to be the director, and of course I said yes.”
Not being from the community when he took over at Peace UCC, Williams did not know a lot of the people who’d made Shawano what it was. Going through Leadership Shawano County helped to expand his gaze.
“It was just a great networking and leadership opportunity,” Williams said, noting that the classes also helped improve his public speaking beyond what he did from the church pulpit.
One of his favorite parts of the class was a trip to a farm in Krakow. Williams recalled learning about sustainable farming techniques and strategies to keep farms going.
“One of my takeaways from the class was how blessed we are as a city and a county to have so many wonderful people living and working here to see that it’s the best it could be,” he said.
Lesley Nemetz, Shawano city clerk, participated in Leadership Shawano County in 2014. She was the city’s deputy clerk at the time and still feeling a little new to the community. So she decided to take the leadership classes to help her understand more about Shawano itself and the other places that make Shawano County unique.
“At that time, I wanted to be able grow in my leadership skills and my leadership style, so this was one of the really great ways to do that,” Nemetz said. “This program teaches you so many valuable things and makes it so you get to experience a lot and you get to grow your connections. As somebody who works for the city of Shawano, having great connections not only through the community but through Shawano Country (the combination of Shawano and Menominee counties) is really important.”
Nemetz continued to be a part of Leadership Shawano County by serving on the steering committee for six years after graduating in 2015.
For Nemetz, the biggest highlight was the first class when everyone was getting to know each other.
“When you’re watching those relationships form between the members of the class, it’s just really exciting to see a room of 14-20 strangers get to work together and become friends,” she said. “I’ve made some lifelong friends in the class, so that one where you’re getting to know people has always been my favorite.”
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