Individual
2012 Individual Development Team
Vice President Steven Kramer Director Matt Gundry
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The sole purpose of the Junior Chamber movement is to meet the personal and career development needs of young people.
More than 80 years ago, Henry Giessenbier and a group of young men in St. Louis established the Junior Chamber for personal reasons. They wanted to move ahead in their careers and their lives, but they faced a classic “catch-22.” To advance they needed more experience, but the only way to get more experience was to advance. They found they faced similar problems but had differing solutions to those problems. That diversity became their strength. Coming from a variety of backgrounds, they discovered they possessed a wide range of talents, skills, and abilities, and along with the natural leaders in the group, they found and used available resources both within and out of their group.
Great leaders need great skills. The Junior Chamber (Jaycees) offers, through Individual Development projects, trainings and competitions, many opportunities for personal growth. The Minnesota Junior Chamber offers you opportunities to see how you've grown and where you need improvement as a leader. And, on a local chapter level the organization offers projects that help you grow in your personal life as well.
The Junior Chamber is re-emphasizing its purpose: Provide the opportunity for personal development and leadership training through community and organizational involvement.
EVERYTHING in the Junior Chamber (Jaycees) is Individual Development.
Every project, every meeting, every experience expands the abilities of Jaycees. Each new situation presents opportunities and choices. Actions are the results of choosing. Personal growth is achieved through each set of circumstances. Ideas are conceived. Beliefs are strengthened. Opinions are formed. Memories are mentally filed away for future reference and use.
Chapter projects serve as a vehicle for hands-on learning. “Off-the-job” training while benefiting society is how Junior Chamber members transform classroom learning into self-improvement. All the skills to plan, promote, and manage a Junior Chamber project are directly transferable to real-life situations. Community Development projects are the laboratory where Jaycees learn while doing. That, again, is Individual Development.
To supplement the multitude of personal development experiences available through involvement in the Junior Chamber (Jaycees) organization, resource materials are available to help members expand their knowledge. Many chapters and state organizations have developed comprehensive programs to help build personal and professional skills. The Minnesota Jaycees offer programs such as SPEAK UP, WRITE UP, TEAM DEBATE, ARMBRUSTER & BROWNFIELD COMPETITIONS, and JAYCEE JEOPARDY at each state meeting. Additionally, these programs can be run right in your own local chapter! Get involved when you can. Start now! It's always a great time to improve your skills.
Whatever the needs for personal improvement, the Minnesota Junior Chamber has the means available to meet those needs. A multitude of resources and personal development opportunities sit quietly in the community, waiting for us to tap their riches. The topic, breadth, and scope of Individual Development programs are limited only by imagination.
Each member is an unfinished product. Each member has “rough edges” to smooth and exceptional skills to polish. Each individual must be a seeker of knowledge! Opportunity knocks but once, and often so softly that it’s unnoticed. To grow as individuals, members must proactively seek experiences and situations that stretch their limitations and expand their minds.
It has been said, “You only get out of something what you put into it.” In the Junior Chamber, it could be more accurately stated, “You only get out of your Junior Chamber experience what you take from it.” The opportunity to grow as a person is here. But members must recognize those opportunities and use them to their advantage; to selfishly strive to improve. Building better people is what the Junior Chamber is all about