Excerpt from a press release on PRWire.com, June 25, 2011.
On July 1, Marylhurst’s Center for Servant Leadership welcomed a dozen students from Kazakhstan, Ukraine, and the United States as they celebrated their graduation from the 2011 International Servant Leadership Academy.
Since 2006, the modest Oregon-based nonprofit Co-Serve International has held five conferences known as the International Servant Leadership Academy (ISLA). The ISLA is a summit in students' ascension to leadership principles intended to guide their future and offer a fresh perspective in a world that grapples with life and business practices that best serve their families, communities, and careers. While attending the two-week intensive study on leadership, students visit corporate examples that actively pursue and exemplify the models taught at the ISLA.
These businesses include Kaiser Permanente, Western Partitions, First Fruits, AKT Financial, Medical Teams International, Good Shepherd Community Church, Owl Brand Discovery Kits, and many others, many of which are ongoing sponsors of the event.
Among those business owners who successfully demonstrate these principles is Cheryl Broetje of Pasco, Washington. Cheryl and her husband Ralph own and operate Broetje Orchards, a farm located along the Snake River in the Southeastern part of Washington State. Their farm has 5,000 acres of apple orchards, close to 2,000 employees, and a packing facility handling an average of 20,000 boxes per day. Broetje Orchards is committed to servant leadership as the model that guides its activities. Cheryl and Ralph have focused on "creating a community of people who care for a business that then cares for them."
