Leadership Lake Cumberland (LLC), facilitated by the Somerset-Pulaski County Chamber of Commerce, helps local leaders grow through self-discovery, networking, and a deeper understanding of the community and its challenges. The program connects participants with civic organizations, exposes them to regional issues, and engages them with leadership experts.
As their community project, the Class of 2020 launched the Readers to Leaders Storybook Trails — offering families a fun, active way to enjoy children’s literature while promoting literacy and healthy habits.
Jessica Carlton — along with several others — still helps maintain the group’s project five years later. With strong roots and continued momentum, the initiative shows no signs of slowing down. She said once the group decided on the project, they hit the ground running.
Jessica’s class included about 30 individuals from a wide range of industries and backgrounds.
As the project’s unofficial “ringleader,” Jessica said she was focused on timely implementation.
“I wanted to make sure that we got these trails installed, that we didn’t sit and wait two years for a project to come to fruition,” Jessica said.
“Our first trail was installed in July of 2021, and that was at Eubank Park,” she said.
In addition to Eubank Park and Firebrook Park (pictured here), Readers to Leaders Storybook Trails are now located in White Lily, Shopville, Burnside’s Cole Park, Rocky Hollow, and Woodstock. Pulaski Park was the latest addition, with a dog-themed grand opening on April 26.
Jessica said that after completing the initial project, several classmates decided to form a nonprofit to keep it going.
“In February of 2023, we became our own non-profit,” she said. They began printing more books and rotating them between parks. Their goal is to eventually have a trail in every community in Kentucky. The nonprofit developed a package allowing other communities to install trails using the trademarked design.
“We wanted to start every trail off with a local children’s book author,” Jessica said. Each installation had a grand opening, with the local author taking part in the celebration.
“We have an agreement with the publisher for the Dolly Parton Imagination Library,” Jessica said. They’re able to use select titles from the library and change out the featured books seasonally.
Although the books are geared toward preschoolers through fifth graders, Jessica said even older children enjoy them.
“One of the things we wanted to do with the project is get kids loving to read and get them outdoors. At the bottom of each page, there is a task to engage them in the book, and plus it gets their brain working and it gets some exercise as they go along the trail.”
Follow the organization on Facebook: @ReadersToLeadersStoryBookTrail.
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