Courtney Rabideau
May 24, 2008 - 12:00 a.m. EST

UNIONVILLE -- Community members who are anxious for change huddled around the circular tables of the USA High School cafeteria Thursday night.

John “Kip” Walker, Superintendent of Unionville-Sebewaing Area Schools, opened up the discussion by stating, “There are two ways to look at where our area is at right now: shutting the door, or doing something proactive about it.”

At the community-wide forum held May 22 at 7 p.m., area citizens were invited to brainstorm ideas to for creating an action plan to make the environment of Unionville and Sebewaing more attractive to businesses, residents and visitors alike.

With approximately 50 people in attendance, Michelle Lantz and Sherrie Graham of Insight Development Group facilitated the meeting.

As Lantz, a USA graduate, opened the meeting, she asked members to define the word “insanity.”

“Insanity,” she stated, “is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.”

That’s exactly what area members hoped to curb, as two hours were devoted to brainstorming and creating ideas that will hopefully give the USA area the push it needs to move its communities forward.

Those who attended were broken up into smaller groups and given three separate pieces of paper. Citizens started with the sheet titled “Strengths,” and the page was broken down into five sub-categories: Business, Healthcare, Government and Infrastructure, Quality of Life and Education. From there, the different groups were asked to list their opinions on strengths and then later pick their top two choices to present to the group as a whole.

Current strengths that were mentioned included the school system, churches, councils and townships, availability and proximity to healthcare and the safe rural environment.

The process was repeated twice, as participants went on to list things they’d seen in other cities around the world that helped promotion and then later named the opportunities they saw for USA to improve.

Many present agreed that making their area marketable to the younger generation was a priority. Various ideas for improvement also centered on the marina and taking advantage of the wildlife and other natural resources the area is blessed with. Other ideas included historic renovations, cyber cafes, tourism and utilizing vacant buildings.

Following those discussions, the group reconvened to fill out interest cards.

Lantz commented, “The most challenging part of this process is the implementation. We need people like you to put these ideas in motion.”

Lantz, Graham and others will look at the interest cards and use those who want to be involved throughout the process. After the forum ended, Lantz told the Advertiser: “It’s such an exciting process. This group did a wonderful job. I’m so proud of them for breaking out of their shells and putting forth ideas that were outside the box.”

This is only the groundwork for the area and its plans. Now, the real test comes in putting the ideas presented at the forum in motion. Just as Lantz stressed, “The possibilities literally are endless.”