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Youth Leadership Hamblen County held its 2026 program graduation Wednesday evening at Walters State Community College in the Lyceum on the Morristown Campus.

The program is administered by a community advisory council and is a student leadership development program that provides a year-long experience for Morristown East and West High juniors. It is an intensive study of local community, its history, opportunities, and challenges.

“This is a very unique group of kids,” Program Director Chris Cates said. “We’ve got 47 students that graduated. We have 25 from Morristown West and 22 from Morristown East.

“This is our largest class we’ve ever had. They’re a very diverse group of athletes, musicians, very involved members of FCA, debate teams, forensics choir… So they’re just a well-rounded and diverse group of individuals.

“With the leadership program, we are trying to expose the students as juniors in high school to everything that kind of makes Hamblen County work — from Hamblen County government, to city government, to the Board of Education, Morristown Utilities, to going to TCAT, Walters State, to (information about) applying to college. We’re trying to see what’s available to our students and how all those entities play together in order to make this organization and make the county and city work together.”

Arnold Bunch, Director of Schools in Hamblen County and retired Air Force four-star general, gave remarks at the graduation and charge the students to continue to pursue growth with perseverance.

“You’ve got to have perseverance and you can’t be complacent and you’ve got to have passion for what you’re doing,” he said. “I have watched way too many people in my military career and in other things who were extremely talented flame out and fold the first time they ran into anything tough. You’ve got to build up that perseverance and you’ve got to build that attitude up and you’re not going to let those kind of things get you down.”

Advisory Board Member Haley Fugate said she was honored to be a part of the process and watch the students grow.

“It was just amazing, truly amazing to watch them to grow,” she said. “I know how cliché that sounds, but they wouldn’t even look you in the eye when we met them on orientation day. (Now) all of them shake my hand and shake it well and make eye contact.

“It’s exciting to hopefully have them back in our community one day. I want them to go out and live their lives and live the world and have the experiences. But we would be truly blessed to have them back in our community.”

The students that graduated are: Emma Amos, Abram Archer, Cadence Bazor, Jake Michael Bunch, Brett Alexander Carden, Ben Carrier, Laila Carter, Averie Alexis Collins, Jordan Collins, Genessis Aurora Cruz Moreno, Ryleigh Grace Davis, Alyssa Diaz-Johnson, Emmary Rose Drinnon, Kara Dyke, Reeve Elliott, Robert Joseph Fair, Bradley Hart, Jeremy Howerton, Gretchen Ruth Hunley, Alyssa Jane Hurst, Robert Kelly, Peyton Lane, Mikayla Loftin, Logan Scott Long, Brayden Lee Martin, Marlee Morgan, Nestor Sanchez Murillo, Eber Sanchez, Cora Marie Sanders, Kenji Schuster, MaKayla Seal, James Hayden Sharp, Sophie Shelley, Iyana Singh Massengill, Noah Smith, Rory Annabelle Stapleton, Hannah Grace Stepp, Makenzie Tolliver, Kishi Ngoc Truong, Kaelin Turner, Adisson Grace Watkins, Sydney West, Bryson Whaley, Dylan White, Grant Andrew Wilder, Caleb Alexander Woolsey and Zoey Zazueta.

Hamblen County Mayor Chris Cutshaw was present and helped hand out medallions to the graduates to mark the occasion.

“I am thrilled to death to see this youth leadership class come through,” he said. “When you see what they’ve accomplished and it encourages me.

“Our future here in Hamblen County is looking better all the time.”