Purpose:

I am a member of the Woodford Leadership Tomorrow program. This program is open to seniors in high school only and is active the whole school year. But there is also an adult group, Woodford Leadership Today, that does similar activities but on a larger scale. This is ran through the University of Kentucky College of Agriculture, Food, and Environment with 4-H Youth Development. What we do is take field trips to look at the different aspects of the Woodford community. For now we have explored the court house and the individuals that are inside.

Being a staff reporter of The Jacket Journal and being a member of WLT, I wanted to know more about what, you, the student body of WCHS really wanted to see in your community. So I decided to write an article about the opinions that you all have.

“Woodford Leadership Tomorrow is coordinated by the Woodford County Cooperative Extension Service in partnership with Woodford County High School. The program intends to present an overview of Woodford County and a broad perspective of the community while helping develop leadership and communication skills in high school seniors.”

Opinions:

A couple of weeks ago, I sent out a Google Form titled, “What do the students of WCHS want from their community?” with the intent of sharing the information gathered from the student body with the Woodford Leadership Tomorrow Group. The questions follow below, as well as sample student responses to them.  The Form received 16 responses.  If you would like to add your thoughts and opinions, please visit this link. 

How do you feel as a teenager living in Woodford County? Are there enough opportunities for you to live your best life here? Please explain.

“Being a teenager in Woodford County is hard. Normally, there are places to hang out with friends, like a bowling alley or movie theater. But in Woodford County, all we can do is hang out in the Kroger parking lot or go to McDonald’s if we’re hungry. There’s really nothing to do here unless you go to Lexington or Frankfort.”

From a teenage standpoint, what conversations and/or opportunities would you like to see offered in your community that are not talked about or do not exist?

“Well, we don’t get to have conversations since all the decisions that affect us are groups or discussions for parents. If we had a realistic say on things, we would have something to do here. We don’t have an arcade, movie theater, bowling alley, not even some weird stage play set-up. There is literally nothing.”

What do you think could be offered in Woodford County that would be beneficial to all members of our community? Examples: a place, a program, a public service, etc.

“I think something that allowed students to come together, maybe if the life adventure center was more open to the community and had programs for the youth or public.”

“A quality skate park in a social area like Falling Springs or somewhere else around town would be an incredible spot that would encourage those with similar interest to talk and make friends.”

As a student of WCHS, do you think your voice is heard by leaders in the county? (School, Government Officials, Etc.) Explain your answer.

“No. So many examples we could use here. How about when they ignored one of our fellow classmates’ death at a board meeting. Many of us heard the recording of that. Mrs.Wilson took charge and is keeping her spirit alive with everything she helps do. Another thing would just be the lack of acknowledgment that leaders of the county have. It’s always ‘see something, say something’ until it’s against the county image.”

“Yes but no. I feel like the school and government definitely hear our opinions and complaints and ideas, but they do nothing about it every single time. We need to stop playing the waiting game hoping that things get better. Nothing is going to get better if we don’t act towards problems and ideas.”

“Yes, I do. This is because I’ve had the opportunity to meet local leaders like James Kay and local pastors and have had great conversations about what could be better for the youth of Woodford County, which I think have had somewhat of a good impact on the progress.”

Solutions:

To get a new business in Versailles, you have to talk to the planning and zoning officials. Their office is located on the second floor in the Versailles courthouse. There are specific zones that are for businesses, residential areas, etc. The people who work with this use special technology that helps them locate where to put structures. This is to make sure what is placed there can have the best chance of surviving in a location. With this program, they can see sewer lines, manholes, water lines, electric lines, etc. It also has zones assigned within the program for where specific places can and can’t be. You can go to  https://versailles.ky.gov/Pages/index.aspx to sign up for a visit to meet with anyone that works in the Versailles Town Hall.

The main reason we don’t have a new school is we don’t have enough funds for the building. If you didn’t know, it would go by the middle school, since the county already bought that land. But the county went over budget when building the middle school. Therefore, the county doesn’t have enough money for the new high school.

Most of the school student body population feels that their voice is not heard. I can definitely understand both sides. I know for a fact that Judge-Executive James Kay hears our voices. When talking with him, he knows how much we need a new school and is working towards getting towards that goal. However, when it comes to changes within the schools, I think we are not heard by the higher-ups. A majority of the teachers at our school listen, and they care about their students. I don’t think there is any change because of the mindset of the individuals running the school system.