City Times Staff

Anton Anday leads a discussion with 27 members of Teen Leadership Portage County on Jan. 25 at the Portage Co. Annex.

The group, comprised of high school sophomores from SPASH, Pacelli, Almond-Bancroft, Rosholt and Amherst high schools, spent their morning observing opening arguments of an attempted murder trial in the Portage Co. Courthouse.

The group was chaperoned by Anday, a former SPASH history teacher, and Jeff Whitrock, president/CEO of Pioneer Bank, both who work with the leadership program.

Whitrock said the purpose of the group is to teach the “7 Habits of Highly Effective People” during monthly field trips.

“Today we’re teaching [habit] number five, which is ‘seek first to understand, then to be understood’,” Whitrock said. “They got to hear both sides of the story today by sitting in court and listening to both the DA and the defense attorney.”

The program is open to all sophomores in Portage Co. and aims to give young adults a firsthand look at the importance of teamwork and collaboration in the real world.

For more information on the program, click here.