From Laura Flores Cailloux

• M e s s a g e f r o m L a u ra • Congratulations LS Class of 2021

If there was ever a year that called us to question our assumptions about ‘normal’, this was the year. Some of us were thrown into the epicenter of response to the pandemic. Some became sick or lost loved ones. Some of us no longer left home and experienced the blur of work and home together in convenient and uncomfortable ways. Some of us added the extra responsibility of educating our children. Some rediscovered the bonds of family. All of us faced these changes as the fault lines of our nation grew larger and rumbled in a way we couldn’t ignore. And all of you, the courageous Leadership Skagit Class of 2021, did not withdraw into isolation and hunker down, but instead chose this year as the time to invest in yourselves as leaders and to engage more deeply in this beautiful place we call home.

The curriculum design team realized the leadership required in this time had to reckon with fraying community bonds, a climate crisis, and our national history of systemic racial oppression that created the stark disparities in wealth, education, incarceration and health that we see today. As we prioritized curriculum content, our central question was, ‘What knowledge and tools do community leaders need in order to be inclusive and wise in these times?’ Our curriculum design team included Leadership Skagit graduates and volunteers Jarrod Ball, Morgan Curry, Mary Dumas, Locke Elder, K.C. Knudson, Kevin Meenaghan, and Kara Stamback. This team clarifi ed essential learning into six themes, and wove them throughout the traditional Leadership Skagit program days, retaining the elements that have made the program strong: experiencing Skagit county, building networks of relationships, and engaging in service.

With this shift in focus, your completely unprecedented leadership journey began, online in Canvas for resources, in small groups for in-person activities, and on Zoom for networking in breakout rooms and

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Skagit Regional Health has proudly supported a team member in every Leadership Skagit class since the program began in 2003. Congratulations and thank you to Jammie Novak, MSN, RN, Class of 2021, and to all Skagit Regional Health employees who are Leadership Skagit alumni, for your dedication to learning and leading in our organization and greater community.