A Tip Of Our Hat to Steadfast Sponsors: Zenetex

Leadership Southern Maryland likes to celebrate our many wonderful sponsors by acknowleding their dedicated support and participation. Many companies throughout the region have kept the connection between our organization and theirs alive and well, year after year.

We reverently tip our hat to Zenetex! With support from the onset and members of their team investing their time and resources in our unique, regional leadership experience, we've decided to feature the Zenetex/LSM partnership by calling attention to them as our featured sponsor on the website and through our media outlets.

This year, the company's California, MD office will serve as the venue for Class of 2014's upcoming Multiculturalism/Diversity Program on Thursday, May 1. Thank you to the leaders of Zenetex for your long-standing and continued support of Leadership Southern Maryland.

ZENETEX IS A CERTIFIED SMALL BUSINESS WHICH HAS BEEN PROVIDING IT, ENGINEERING, INTEGRATED LOGISTICS, FOREIGN MILITARY SALES, PROGRAM MANAGEMENT, TRAINING SYSTEMS, ITIL TRAINING, AND CONTRACTOR FIELD SERVICES SOLUTIONS FOR A VARIETY OF FEDERAL AGENCIES AND COMMERCIAL ORGANIZATIONS FOR MORE THAN A DECADE. 

SINCE LSM'S INCEPTION, THE LEADERSHIP OF ZENETEX HAS SHOWN CONTINUED SUPPORT AND A STRONG COMMITMENT TO OUR MISSION AND THE SOUTHERN MARYLAND COMMUNITY, WITH SEVERAL FOUNDING SPONSORS AND ALUMNI AMONG THEIR RANKS. 

PICTURED, CLOCKWISE FROM UPPER LEFT ARE COO/PRESIDENT DENNIS ENGLAND, A LSM FOUNDING SPONSOR AND PROGRAM SPEAKER AT OUR ECONOMIC & WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT SESSION; DIRECTOR OF OPS EXCELLENCE VINCENT MERZ, ALSO A LSM FOUNDING SPONSOR; EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT OF BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT GERY VANDERVLIET CLASS 2009; VICE PRESIDENT OF NAVAL AVIATION PROGRAM DEVELOPMENT GREGORY WALLACE CLASS 2012; OFFICE MANAGER GRACE FISCHER CLASS 2012; DIRECTOR OF HUMAN RESOURCES LAURA KAMOSA SOON TO GRADUATE WITH CLASS 2014; DIRECTOR OF ENGINEERING SERVICES MICHAEL ROSCOE CLASS 2011; AND VICE PRESIDENT OF IT SERVICES CYNTHIA RANDALL CLASS 2010.

We hope to call on many of our other true blue sponsors to help us recognize the various types of support they have shown LSM over its six successful years (so far) and acknowledge the members of their company who have earned the LSM Alumni distinction. Contact Executive Director Karen Holcomb HERE or Communications Specialist Carrie Munn HERE for more details. 

Class of 2014 Offers Another Pro-Community Project

Check Out Southern Maryland Camp Connection

The last group of LSM 2014 classmates will present its project at the upcoming Multiculturalism/Diversity session on Thursday, but offered a sneak peek at their efforts to leave a positive legacy in the region in the meantime. 

The team consisting of Doria Fleisher, Lisa Mann and Rich Prevatt set out with the objective to create a website which encourages and supports Southern Maryland Youth Camp Scholarships by connecting potential donors with a diverse group of licensed and/or accredited youth summer camps in the Southern Maryland area. 

Fleisher states, "When school lets out, we want to ensure that kids still have access to quality and engaging activities, meals, and positive peer and mentor relationships. All too often for many in the tri-county area, summer camp is a luxury that is financially inaccessible to families, leading to youth spending their summers without these quality experiences and resources."

So far, the team has four participating camps and hopes to add to the list in coming weeks. Corporate, local business and individual sponsors can directly impact the life of a child or teen in Southern Maryland by contacting a camp and providing a scholarship donation.  

CLICK HERE to visit the website today!

Golf For A Good Cause, Anyone?

Sign up by April 15th for the 7th Annual Charity Golf Open aboard NAS Patuxent River and support the Navy Marine Corps Relief Society. Can't make tee time? Sponsor an active duty service member or Wounded Warrior to play in your stead. Contact Greg Veit or Brian Schultz to register. 

The Arc of Southern Maryland will hold its 12th Annual Pat Collins Golf Classic, May 22 at the Twin Shields Golf Club in Dunkirk. Proceeds support individuals and families of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Registration begins at 7:30 a.m., with a shotgun start at 8:30 a.m. Visit www.arcsomd.org or contact Jennie Parran to save your spot.

LSM Installs Some Updates

WEBSITE: If you haven't visited the new website, www.lsmlead.org, check it out and if you have, visit again to check out some of the new features like the photo galleries, downloadable application documents and convenient online payments and giving, including REACH for 2018 pledges! 

We'd love to hear what you think. Click HERE to submit your feedback or suggestions.

SOCIAL MEDIA:  LEAD now has a Twitter Page, @LEADSOMD in addition to its own Facebook page! Follow us, Re-tweet our posts and share the wonderful opportunity to attend LEAD 2014 June 22-25 with all the teens you know. 

We welcome graduates to post about their experience and let us know what they're up to now. We're happy to toot horns all day. We'd love to spotlight our bright young men and women here on the blog and help other teens and parents find out about LEAD and its benefits. Send profiles, comments or inquiries to Karen Holcomb or Carrie Munn today and keep an eye out for ads on TheBayNet and in your local newspaper this week. Feel free to download, share, or print the flyer to help us spread the word!

Class Members Plant Seeds of Health for Southern Maryland Kids

Several local sponsors have partnered with Leadership Southern Maryland (LSM) to help launch a new initiative called “Get Moving, Get Growing” in two local public schools. The goal of the program is to raise awareness among children about the importance of their health by establishing community gardens and fitness clubs within the Southern Maryland school systems.

Get Moving, Get Growing (GMGG) will be a collaborative effort between children, their families, school staff, community volunteers and LSM volunteers.

Working with a master gardener, students have the opportunity to plan, plant and cultivate their own community gardens. LSM will provide opportunities for the produce to be used for school fundraisers or donated to community organizations to instill a sense of pride and giving back to the community among participants.

The program will incorporate the University of Maryland’s Growing Healthy Habits curriculum to focus on the importance of nutrition and personal wellness. A fitness dimension of the program will establish a school fitness club that will hold weekly meetings and offer children the opportunity to exercise with volunteers in a fun, supportive environment. 

Major sponsors include Community Wealth Advisors, Zenetex, AVIAN, KAIROS, INC., The Greenery Nursery and Landscaping Center and Hatcher’s Feed & Farm Supply.  These companies join with various parent-teacher organizations and other individual donors to help make the program possible. 

“One of the best things that we can do for the upcoming generation is to help educate children about the importance of personal health and wellness,” said Anna Fagan, a member of GMGG LSM group. “Get Moving, Get Growing empowers students to make smart health decisions and instills that sense of pride and ownership that comes from seeing a project through from start to finish.”

The program has kicked off at Plum Point Elementary in Huntingtown at the end of March, and will run through the end of the school year. It is initially open to the school’s fourth- and fifth-grade classes, with plans to expand to other grade levels in the future. The school garden program is paired with its existing running club.

Leonardtown Elementary School began its running club in January and has started planting its garden. The running club has more than 90 participants and the garden will be a joint effort between kindergarten and fifth grade. “Ultimately we would love to see gardens and running clubs in every school in Southern Maryland,” said fellow GMGG group member Julie Lemmon. “We would like to see a few new schools take part each year.”

The group also provides guest speakers to the elementary schools to talk about exercise and nutrition. Dr. Rick Hageman, a local physical therapist and Leonardtown High School cross country coach, is visiting Leonardtown Elementary this week to talk about injury prevention and ways to increase endurance. Dr. Mia Finkelston will speak to the students later this month about wellness and choosing healthy snacks and drinks for energy and performance. Horticulture students at the James A. Forrest Technology Center, along with their teacher Ed Carney, built and installed the three raised garden beds at Leonardtown Elementary.

Members of the LSM Get Moving Get Growing team are Steven Bishop, Smartonix Inc.; Rose Crunkelton, Attorney at Law; Hartmuth Csanadi-Schwartz, The Arc of Southern MD Inc.; Anna Fagan, Community Wealth Advisors; Laura Kamosa, Zenetex; Christa Kuhl, PSI Pax, Inc.; Julie Lemmon, AVIAN Engineering LLC; Carrie Lovejoy, Calvert County Government; and Scott Reeves, KAIROS, INC.

Contact any of the team members if you'd like to get involved.