By Rhys Baker

Miranda Meenen of Union State Bank in Palmer received a scholarship through the Community Bankers Association of Kansas for an all-expense-paid trip to a summit in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She was one of only two scholarship winners from the State of Kansas. Meenen explains why she applied for the scholarship, “This was just something outside of anything I had done before. The attendees included bankers from 38 different states, so it was neat to meet bankers from across the nation. All of the bankers were from community banks, some larger or smaller, but you still have so much in common because the purpose of a community bank is the same no matter where you’re at.”

Meenen says that the small group breakout sessions during the summit were nerve-wracking, but she learned quickly that the community banks also had many shared ideas in addition to shared obstacles. “Leadership within the banking industry, the way that we can connect, dealing with government regulations, specific products that you can utilize, or that we need or little things like what are some of the different ways that you’ve plugged into your community, were all topics we discussed. Great ideas, like one bank did a food drive and made it a branch challenge. Lots of ideas that we want to try that too.”

The Independent Community Bankers Association led the summit and was established to aid community banks nationwide.