Kindergartners in Jeanne Morgan’s class at Andalusia Elementary School have been learning about loving leaders.

On Friday, Andalusia Area Chamber of Commerce Director Chrissie Duffy visited the class.

“February is a month that reminds us to be loving and kind,” Morgan said. “We felt that this is a perfect opportunity to show love to our leaders.”

They designated several area leaders as Loving Leaders honorees, and invited them to visit their class.

Morgan said that the students had been learning about jobs and they were talking about leaders.

They have also been learning the Seven Steps of Highly Effective Leaders through the school’s Leader in Me program.

Duffy explained to the students that the chamber is a membership group, in essence a team of business and community leaders that work together to enhance the quality of life.

She explained that quality of life was how satisfied you are with life.

Duffy also told them that the chamber wanted to work to enhance education because students are the future of the community.

She told them her favorite part of her job was community development.

“I like to because it’s something that brings the community together,” she said.

Duffy shared with them her vision for Christmas in Candyland and applied the Seven Habits to making her plan work.

“I knew it was going to be a really big job,” she said. “So, I had to be proactive.”

She told them that she had to lay out the vision and show what was the end was. So, she began with the end in mind.

She said she had to put first things first.

Then, she needed help from local businesses, so she had to help them understand why it was a win-win for every one.

“I had to listen to all of the concerns,” she said. “There needed to be more power on the square, and there were safety concerns.”

There she applied the fifth habit: “Seek first to understand and then to be understood.”

Constructing the play cottages and making the weekends go smoothly required a lot of work.

“So, we had to synergize,” she said.

There was a lot of teamwork in making Christmas in Candyland come together.

Then they are always working to make the event bigger and better. Since the first year, they have added more cottages, a train, snow tubing, and ice-skating.

Duffy told the students they could be anything they want to be they just have to make up their mind to do it.

At the end of the presentation, kindergartners had the opportunity to play in the snow, just like in Candyland.