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Filling the shoes of past Lincoln County Youth leaders Jim Neale and Carla Warden, Bouldin said she understood the assignment from the beginning of taking over the group and has worked hard to keep the roots of the group strong while branching out and creating new opportunities for the students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been an interesting journey,\u201d said Bouldin. \u201cIt\u2019s been awesome because we\u2019re able to change some things and add some new features. I have loved every minute. It\u2019s just a great program. We want these students to return after college or trade school and be productive leaders. We want them to come back and pour into their home base. That\u2019s kind of the gist of the program, which is to instill in them a sense of community and a sense of spirit that they want to come back and pour into where they came from.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Bouldin added that it\u2019s also been rewarding to see how each group of students has experienced the time with Leadership Lincoln Youth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI work with the students to put the cell phones down and do different things. We learn life skills,\u201d she said. \u201cWe push them to be the best versions of themselves that they can be, and that\u2019s what we expect. When we take them out in the community, they are the face of this program, and we want those high standards to be reflected. Just in my five years of being with these students, I have never seen any of them not fulfill that and not be the good citizen that we ask them to be.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Bouldin also added that the community continues to pour back into the students, further helping to set them up for success as they grow into adults.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThey are very inviting,\u201d explained Bouldin. \u201cAround 1997 is when we started the youth program, and our community has loved pouring into our students. It\u2019s nothing for me to call places we tour, like the 911 center, and they will bend over backwards to make sure that we can get in and see their facilities. We\u2019ve also had that with every single one of our youth groups with Frito-Lay. They won\u2019t let our adults in, but they let our kids in because our kids have always been very respectful.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Born and bred in California, Bouldin and her family found themselves in Fayetteville and have since fallen in love with the community and all that it offers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt\u2019s a hidden gem,\u201d she said. \u201cWe\u2019re going on nine years here. God brought us to Fayetteville. We love it, and I love being involved and being in leadership. This community has become very special to us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n She said she has grown from being a part of both Leadership Lincoln and now as chair of Leadership Lincoln Youth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWith the youth specifically, I have gained so much hope for the future of Lincoln County,\u201d said Bouldin. \u201cI look at these kids, and I think, globally, it\u2019s in a dark place right now, and there\u2019s a lot of negatives going on in the world. But I look at these kids and these young adults, and they are everything that we would like an extra generation to be. So for me, it gives me hope. I have every hope that our community is not going to fail. It is going to thrive, and it\u2019s going to continue to be excellent because we\u2019re handing the reins over to these kids. And in a few short years, I wholeheartedly believe that they are going to be ready to take those reins and even be better than what we are today.\u201d GN<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" IT IS often said that today\u2019s youth are the leaders of tomorrow. When it comes to our local communities, youth involvement in community leadership is essential for building a vibrant and inclusive future. Local youth can bring fresh perspective, creativity, and energy to their community. By taking on or observing leadership roles, they learn the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":24496,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24494","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-feature"],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/goodnewsmags.com\/fayetteville\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2025\/09\/Story-1-photo1-4-1024x683.jpg\")