Sixteen civilian employees from several different directorates at Fort Knox Garrison complete an eight-week course in leadership Dec. 8, 2022. Called the Fort Knox Garrison Leadership Academy, it provides students who are recommended by supervisors and approved by directors a valuable opportunity to develop leadership skills.

FORT KNOX, Ky. — Once members of the four teams delivered their group presentations to peers, sponsors and Fort Knox Garrison leaders Dec. 8, they waited for their names to be called by the course administrator, Melinda Roberts.

Roberts called each of the 16 students up one at a time to receive their certificate: 16 civilian employees who had been recommended by supervisors and approved by directors to attend the eight-week Fort Knox Garrison Leadership Academy’s fall session.

This session's students included: Shala LeMaster from MWR HQ, Chris Harness from MWR Bowling, Aumbrea Sanders from DHR Education Center, Adrianos Polous from DPTMS Range, Casey Byrd from MWR Golf, Makayla Allen from MWR CDC, Joe Russell from DPTMS Range, Becky Bronkema from DPW Recycle, Jay Johnson from MWR NSS, Bambi DeSpain from MWR CDC, Jason Wilson from DPTMS Range, Jack Hargis from DPW Utilities Plant, Kelly Frank from MWR ACS, Brandon Fuhrman from MWR CRD/Intra Sports, Angela Murray from DPW Master Planning, and Ryan Pratt from DES Fire.

The Leadership Academy was the brainchild a few years ago of Roberts and two others from the installation Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation as a way to provide employees who display leadership potential an opportunity to learn and develop that potential.

The course consists of four lunch-and-learn sessions that last 1 ½ hours each, where they talk about specific topics. The other four sessions last all day long and cover a variety of topics, including problem solving, personality assessments, self-awareness exercises, leadership styles, trust issues, effective communications and ways to handle difficult conversations.

Fort Knox Garrison Commander Col. Lance O’Bryan provides graduating students some lessons he has learned over the years as a commissioned officer at various duty stations and commands.

Command Sgt. Maj. William Fogle, Garrison senior enlisted advisor, encourages the graduating students to embrace every opportunity that comes their way.

Laurie Majcher, the installation workforce development specialist and an instructor at the Academy, said the information offers potential leaders an outstanding opportunity to learn.

“It makes the students better leaders,” said Majcher. “I wish I had had a class like this before I was a supervisor because there’s so much information in there that is useful.”