My name is Jeremy Vondenkamp; I’m a senior at Benedictine College. I grew up in both Beatrice Nebraska, and Marion Kansas. I came to Atchison for college, because of the great business school they have here and to run track. I love being in the outdoors, hunting, fishing, and taking care of my horses. It really doesn’t matter what I’m doing as long as it involves being outdoors. I have lived in Atchison year around since my sophomore year in college. So I feel I have a good idea what the Atchison community brings. I have gained most of knowledge of Atchison from working with people during the summer months. I am hoping to take the knowledge I gain from this class and give back to the community I move to after college. I’m also hoping to learn how to be a better citizen to this community and give back to Atchison. To me leadership is the process of social influence in which a person is bettering themselves as well as others to complete a goal set by others, and working together to complete that goal.

Like I said I have lived year around in Atchison for a while now, I have learned a lot about this community. In my mind Atchison is a hard working vibrant community. I work at Blish Mize the past two summers, and it is apparent that the businesses in this community are what hold the people together. So to me the Atchison community is full of hardworking individuals trying to making a living for there families. And I know I don’t know a whole lot about this community but just observing for a few years. This town is hurting; it needs to bring the community together. I think the city of Atchison needs to continue to pull together during this recession. We can’t have more businesses closing down like BIC of Atchison. We need to continue the support of the businesses workers in this town.

The pictures of Blish Mize and MGP really show the support giving to these two businesses, these two businesses have with stood the test of time. Working first hand at Blish Mize I know for a fact just how important Blish Mize is to this community and its workers. We need to have continued support for these businesses as well as all other businesses in this town.In order for this town to prosper and grow as a community.