A ribbon cutting was held at the Tamaqua Public Library on Tuesday to celebrate the Schuylkill Leadership Class of 2021 and its class project.

The library was chosen as class project after employee Melissa Hess, who is also member of the leadership class, made the suggestion.

“I thought maybe we could get it approved and the class thought it was a great idea,” Hess said. “I was very fortunate - my classmates were great people to work with and I think they understood what the vision was and what we wanted to do.”

The class received many donations to do landscaping, painting and install a new sign. The group started the project in April and finished earlier this month.

“As you can see, they did a lot of wonderful improvements to the outside,” said Gayle Heath, library director.

“The front of the library - we have that beautiful sign that was made, and we had painting that was done the wood trim around the door. We also had painting around the planed area directly in front of the library.”

It’s the second consecutive year that a Tamaqua library employee participated in the leadership class, as Hess’s colleague, Grace Seibel, was part of the 2020 class.

“The leadership program is to enhance your ability to be a good leader,” said Hess.

“We met with a lot of great people who are innovators in their fields, or local businesses, and got so much more information from them in different ways to be a good leader. There were things I learned about Schuylkill County that I had no idea. It was a great, great program and I learned so much.”

Many local officials and members of the Schuylkill and Tamaqua chambers were on site for the celebration, as the classmates also received plaques for completing the leadership class.

“To me libraries are a great equalizer,” said Barron “Boots” Hetherington, Schuylkill County Commissioner.

“It allows everyone to have access to information, that’s what makes us special as the United States. You don’t have a class of ruling people or class of royalty. Anyone can access the information they want.”