Iowa's Quality of Life
 Mary-Miranda A. Okraku |
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| Lydia Yisa-Doko 
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Jon Raftis |
Today might have been my most enjoyable day thus far. What an incredible list of professionals we met today!! The “Quality of Life” panel at RDG in the morning was terrific. Those people are all established leaders within their organizations (which gives them a great deal of credibility) and they spoke about how great it is to live in Central Iowa. They discussed the various projects that the city has undertaken to enhance and modernize the things and places that Des Moines residents enjoy using or visiting. Martha Willits, who is with the Greater Des Moines Partnership, talked about specific projects such as Nollen Plaza and the Principal River Walk. Mary also took us on a nice tour of downtown. I live in West Des Moines, but I do not often drive through downtown. It was an interesting ride on the trolley! Our tour of the Iowa Hall of Pride was quite possibly the most enjoyable part of the day for me. It was sort of just a “feel good” portion of the day for me. It made me happy and appreciative that I am an Iowan. It was neat to see some items in there related to my high school in West Des Moines (Dowling Catholic). Seeing those things made me reminisce about my growing up years in West Des Moines and what a nice lifestyle my family, friends, and I had. West Des Moines is truly a blossoming town and there are many young families living there. That has to say something about the quality of life in West Des Moines.
I also definitely enjoyed spending time at the Embassy Club. I had a few nice discussions with some of the professionals that joined us and I can only walk away smarter and more connected after having conversations like those. How cool??!!! The dinner was very nice and we wrapped up with a good presentation from Robin about servant leadership.
Overall, this day went very well and it was packed full with terrific content. I have thoroughly enjoyed this week and getting to know the fellow classmates. I am looking forward to tomorrow (the final day), but it sure has been fun to spend time around these great folks. I feel that I will look back on this week with a great deal of pleasure. |
Oct 2, 2009 4:13 PM
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Leadership Iowa University is a program of the Iowa Association of Business and Industry (ABI) Foundation. The program is designed to bring together two ABI Foundation programs, Leadership Iowa and Business Horizons, to create a unique opportunity for college students. Leadership Iowa University will educate, inspire and develop young leaders as the foundation for Iowa’s future economic growth and encourage their on-going involvement in local communities and the state to create a better future for all Iowans. |  |
