CHEERS! for Ogden

It has been almost a year since a group of ambitious young adults gathered in a brainstorming session about how they can contribute in making their hometown a more vibrant community. 

  Jaslyn Clark, an intern with Ogden Legacy, contacted then 21 year old Shannon Wirtz and said the organization was interested in finding out what brought her and other people her age back to Ogden, and what their wishes were for the community as they settle here. Wirtz is one of several graduates who left their hometown for college or other employment, then were drawn back. 

  “Four or five of us met, and were drawn into a discussion based off of the questions. That’s when we considered forming our own group,” said Wirtz. “We are involved because we all love Ogden and want to see it thrive and grow.” 

The group met monthly until harvest hit and that put a halt to their get-togethers. They created a mission statement, discussed things like new ideas, long term goals and most important, a name. Building off of the Men’s Club aka The Water Buffaloes, “Barneys and Bettys” was thrown into the mix as well as what a lot of people around Ogden know them as “Young Guns”. But nothing seemed to fit. Finally, as they were talking about old TV shows in a side conversation, CHEERS was mentioned and for some reason it stuck. The crew developed an acronym for the word. “A little fun . . . and a little serious,” said Wirtz. The words reflected everything they wanted the group to be. 

Read more in the March 14 issue of The Ogden Reporter.