Huntingdon County Youth Leadership

03/19/2026

We told you to stay tuned—and here’s the first exciting way our youth are stepping up to make a BIG impact in Huntingdon County! 🌟

Students from Juniata Valley High School are leading the charge by organizing a food drive to support their local community food box—and they need YOUR help to make it a success! 🥫💛

Every donation, big or small, helps provide for neighbors in need and shows the power of community coming together. Let’s rally behind these incredible students and support their efforts to make a difference right here at home.

Stay tuned for more ways our youth are inspiring change—and thank you for being part of it! 🙌

03/09/2026

Our Youth Leadership students came together on Friday, March 6 for their Youth Leadership Conference, and it was an incredible day! 🙌

Students spent the day discovering their purpose, passion, and leadership potential while learning from some amazing speakers. We kicked things off with Jeremy Crouse and Madison Speck presenting “Creating Your Own Opportunities,” followed by a fantastic Business Leadership Panel featuring Amanda Jenkins (State Farm Agency), Heidi Leonard (Kish Bank), and Steve Brumbaugh (Brumbaugh Construction). Their advice and insight were invaluable for our young leaders!

After enjoying lunch from Cassville Country Store, students learned about the importance of networking and building connections, and wrapped up the day with a powerful conversation about putting their leadership into action for the love of CommUNITY.

By the end of the conference, students had already identified two important needs in our communities — food insecurity and the cost of youth sporting equipment. They’re already working on plans to help address these challenges, and we can’t wait to share more soon!

We are so proud of this group of young leaders and thankful for the speakers and supporters who make this program possible. 💙

Stay tuned to see how these students will be making an impact in our community!

10/13/2025

🌟 Huntingdon County Youth Leadership is officially BACK! 🌟

After having to pause the program in 2020 due to COVID-19, we’re beyond thrilled to announce its return! 🙌 While we waited for things to get back to normal, our organization went through several transitions — making it challenging to give this program the time and attention it truly deserves. But now, it’s back and better than ever — and we couldn’t be more excited for our local youth! 💙

Last Friday, we kicked things off with an amazing morning getting to know this incredible group of students. They dove right into icebreakers, conversations, and team-building activities — quickly forming connections and showing us just how bright the future of Huntingdon County leadership is! 💬✨

By the end of our time together, they were the ones leading the fun — coming up with their own activity to close out the morning! 🙌 Their energy, kindness, and teamwork exceeded all expectations.

We can’t wait to see them again in March for our full-day conference and to continue watching them grow into the strong, confident leaders we know they are. 💪🌱

03/09/2020

On Friday, March 6 we hosted our annual Youth Leadership Conference at the Huntingdon County Career & Technology Center. We had students from Huntingdon Area High School, Huntingdon County Career & Technology Center, Juniata Valley High School, Mount Union Area High School and Southern Huntingdon County High School participate in the conference.

We started the day with a welcome from Tony Payne, Executive Director, Huntingdon County Career & Technology Center. We then did an activity to learn more about the students. Jermey Crouse, Plant LoveJoy and Jennifer McMullen, Live, Laugh & Bath presented on Creating Your Own Opportunities. They had the students break into groups and discuss what they felt are issues in their communities. They were responsible for identifying solutions to those issues. Next our Business Leadership Panel consisting of Matthew Bender, MDB Drafting & Design, Tony Payne, HCCTC and Candy Price, Huntingdon County CareerLink answered questions about their careers and how they got to their positions. They also took questions from the students about the workforce, college and about advice for their futures. Tammy Stuber, Juniata College gave a presentation on the importance of networking. The students had to practice networking with each other and find unique connections. We ended the day with Jeremy Crouse and Matthew Price, Huntingdon County Visitors Bureau talking about For the Love of CommUNITY. The students took the issues they identified earlier in the day and their solutions and made plans to take action. They are planning clean-up days within their communities and ways to work with and help the younger generation in their school districts.

03/02/2020

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss! 🥳🎂

Today we celebrate Reading Across America Day in honor of Dr. Seuss! 📘

✨To celebrate, here are some facts you may not have known about Dr. Seuss:
☑️Dr. Seuss was not a doctor. He briefly studied English literature at Oxford after graduating from Dartmouth but instead became a cartoonist. In 1955, Dartmouth award him with an honorary doctorate.
☑️Dr. Seuss produced cartoons for the Army during WWII.
☑️Dr. Seuss wrote "The Cat in the Hat" because he was concerned about kids learning to read.
☑️Dr. Seuss wrote "Green Eggs And Ham" on a dare.
☑️❗️Dr. Seuss was vote "Least Likely to Succeed" by his classmates at Dartmouth.
☑️❗️Dr. Seuss has received two Emmys, a Peabody award and a Pulitzer Prize (special citation).

02/24/2020

02/04/2020

This one is near and dear to us here at the Huntingdon County Career and Technology Center!! So let's flood the school with yellow and gold for Wade!

HCCTC staff and students who choose to wear yellow/gold/ Wade shirts are encouraged to make a dollar donation to one of the champ captains Mrs Hicks or Ms Galac on February 7th.

Let's paint the career and tech center for our very own Wade Stains!!!!!!!

This is why we CHAMP!!!!

Remember to be responsible no sweats or PJs next Friday!!!!

02/04/2020