SEQUIM — Danille Turissini is looking across Clallam and Jefferson counties for the next generation of leaders.
As executive director of the PEAK Leadership program, she’s encouraging local business people — and others from all Peninsula walks of life — to explore the 10-month community leadership development course.
The first official deadline to apply is this Thursday.
But Turissini said would-be participants may submit their applications later in the month — or even later this summer — provided they phone her at 360-301-4134 to express interest.
“The best thing is to call me and get on my radar,” she said Tuesday.
PEAK, begun in 2008 with funding from Peninsula College and Washington State University Extension-Team Jefferson, is on its own now, so Turissini, initially hired to develop the program, has been working pro bono since July 2009.
“I decided to continue the program with or without the funding as a personal investment in my community,” she said.
PEAK, which stands for “purposeful, effective, authentic — the keystone of quality leadership,” starts in September and runs through next June. It’s made up of 23 seminars and field trips, scheduled on 14 weekdays and nine Saturdays.
PEAK’s goal is to give its participants an understanding of how the communities on the North Olympic Peninsula are both complex and interconnected, Turissini said.
On the itinerary: field trips to places such as Port Townsend Paper, a Chimacum valley farm, Merrill & Ring’s tree farm on the West End, and other pivotal places across the region.
“The North Olympic Peninsula is our classroom,” said Turissini, adding that “the most important thing we do is build relationships,” with people from Neah Bay to Sequim to Port Hadlock.
The PEAK program also needs sponsors. At a recent Sequim-Dungeness Valley Chamber of Commerce luncheon, Turissini hailed the Cedarbrook Lavender & Herb Farm in Sequim, a sponsor that served a celebratory meal at its Garden Cafe last Saturday for the 2009-2010 PEAK graduates.
She hopes to hear from other businesses that could host a meal or other gathering for the next PEAK crop.
A maximum of 20 PEAK leaders will be chosen for this fall’s course; tuition is $1,000 per person. Participants must be able to take days off from work to attend the two- or three-day field trips taken each month.
For complete information about the PEAK program, visit www.PeakLeadershipNW.net.
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Sequim-Dungeness Valley Reporter Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-681-2391 or at diane.urbani@peninsuladailynews.com.