Skagit Regional Health is excited to share that two of our staff members recently graduated from a local leadership program. Jamie Carpenter, BSN, RN, Director of Acute and Critical Care at Skagit Valley Hospital, and Tami Schnell, MHA, BSN, RNC-OB, Regional Director of Women’s and Children’s Services, graduated from Leadership Skagit on June 4.

About Leadership Skagit
Leadership Skagit is an intensive nine-month leadership development program designed to inspire people to become leaders and prepare them for community leader roles.

The mission of Leadership Skagit is to strengthen and transform our communities by developing individual, business and community leadership that is informed, inclusive and connected through shared learning experiences.

The curriculum includes leadership and communication skills assessments and the completion of a team project that addresses a need in the community.

Jamie Carpenter’s project and learnings
Carpenter and a few other participants formed the Super Friends team. For their team project, they chose to do “Skagit Game Night.” The goal of this project was to combat the loneliness epidemic by using board games to foster intergenerational social connections among Skagit County residents.

Through partnerships with diverse venues, such as the Upper Skagit Library, Sugar Mama Café and Skagit Preschool and Resource Center (SPARC), the Super Friends team were able to organize three recurring game nights across the county. These events provided opportunities for people of all ages to come together, share experiences and build meaningful connections. Additionally, they built little free game libraries in public outdoor spaces, starting with Clear Lake Food Bank, to encourage intergenerational interaction and play. By building connections through fun and games, the “Skagit Game Night” project aimed to strengthen the fabric of community bonds in the county.

“Through this program I have learned a lot about the community I live and work in. I have also made many connections and friends I may not have otherwise had the opportunity to meet if it weren’t for Leadership Skagit,” said Carpenter when speaking about her experience. “I have a better understanding of the need and ways to support our local nonprofits through volunteer opportunities.”

Tami Schnell’s project and learnings
Schnell’s team, Make It Happen, decided to do their project on the East County Community Resource Fair. The goal of this project was to connect the underserved population in that area with various resource providers available to them, but not easily accessible due to geographic isolation.

The Make It Happen team was able to serve about 80 individuals who received services for a myriad of needs. Twenty non-profit and government organizations came together in Concrete, WA for one day to provide for the needs of the local population. Some services available were farm and land management (USDA and Skagit Conservation District), healthcare (CARE Medical and Skagit County Department of Health), court and legal services (Skagit County Community Court and Legal Aid), child development (Help Me Grow and WIC), domestic violence support (Skagit DVSAS), food security (Helping Hands Food Bank) and many more. In addition to the connections that were made on that day in April, nearly 200 lunches were served at no-cost to participants.

Schnell shared that her biggest takeaway from this program is that we live in such a diverse county. “We learned about the community of Skagit Valley and why it is so special,” she said. “The different leaders in (the Leadership Skagit) Class of 2024 had so many different viewpoints and values, it was a pleasure to learn from each one of them about how to be a leader in this community.”

Congratulations to both Jamie and Tami on their accomplishments and thank you for investing in our communities!

To learn more about Leadership Skagit, visit Skagit.org/Our-Services/LS.