Signature Class
2025-2026 Application Open Now
Signature Class applications are open for the 2025-2026 program year! Start your application below. The early bird deadline to apply is Friday, March 7. The final deadline is Monday, March 31 by midnight.
Get Started
Applications are currently closed. The 2025-2026 participants will be announced in May 2025. If you would like to be notified when applications open for the 2026-2027 program year, please fill out the form below.
Whether you’ve lived here your whole life or you’re a transplant to the city, Leadership Springfield’s Signature Class will get you plugged into your community and energize you to get involved.
The Signature Class is a deep dive into what makes this place tick, exploring blue ribbons and red flags and encouraging the participants to find solutions through community resources.
For more than 30 years, the Signature Class has provided opportunities for leaders to gain a unique awareness of their own strengths, an unparalleled depth of community understanding and motivated recognition that they can make an impact where their strengths, passions and community needs meet.
Participants put our motto of “inspire, develop, connect, serve” into action, developing a passion for service in their local community and beyond.
The Signature Class is a nine-month program, including two retreats and intensive day-long, once-a-month sessions on a variety of topics. The class will split into groups that plan each program day, working with community leaders.
Do you have questions about the Signature Class?
Find what you need to know about the program and application in this Signature Class FAQ.
2024-2025 Signature Class Dates
2025-2026 Signature Class Dates
In order to accommodate a greater pool of applicants, we offer two Signature Classes that run simultaneously but on different days each month.
The program day topic areas include:
Springfield Region: Past, Present & Future
Business, Industry & Entrepreneurship
Civic Awareness: Public Service & Public Safety
Education & Lifelong Learning
Health & Medical Services
Quality of Life
Arts & Ozarks Culture
Applicants to the Signature Class must:
Live or work in Springfield metropolitan region
Demonstrate commitment to personal and professional growth
Commit themselves to improve the community, impact economic development and quality of life
Regularly spend time working in community
Be motivated to serve others
Be aware that getting into the Signature Class can be a multiyear process, as there are often more applications than spots available in the class. Classes are representative of our community and include participants who represent large and small businesses, the self-employed, non-profits and community volunteers. Applications will be thoroughly reviewed by the entire Board of Directors before a selection committee determines the final class list.
Tuition for the program is $3,000 and covers retreats, lodging, facilitator cost, materials, meals and transportation provided during program days and graduation dinner.
Scholarships are available through the Leadership Springfield Scholarship Fund. These are awarded to a limited number of participants based on availability of funds. Scholarships are awarded based on need and can be requested by submitting a scholarship form. Scholarship applications are reviewed thoroughly for demonstrated need. Submitting a request for scholarship assistance will not be considered a detriment when choosing participants for each class. You may apply for a scholarship at the same time you submit your application for the program.
Benefits
Establish Roots
By connecting to the community, participants are able to better establish roots in Springfield. Not only does this keep them in our community for longer, it also keeps them continuously engaged.
Build Leadership Skills
Through every step of the program, participants use their strengths to find how they best communicate and interact with others. In turn, they begin to truly hone their leadership skills.
Network with others
The Signature Class offers the opportunity to interact with professionals that you may not otherwise encounter in your day-to-day work. At the completion of the program, your professional network will grow exponentially.
Gain a stronger workforce
By going through the Signature Class program, participants will become more influential leaders in their workplace. As graduates progress in their careers, they will grow their skills even more thanks to their time with Leadership Springfield.
Join our alumni network
Leadership Springfield celebrates more than 2,000 alumni spanning three decades. These informed and highly engaged leaders are movers and shakers changing the world. When you graduate from a Leadership Springfield program, you are invited to join our Alumni Membership where you will receive on-going opportunities to remain inspired, developed and connected for years to come!
Engage with your community
After completion of the program, we encourage all graduates to take their experience and put it into practice in an area where their passions and strengths meet community needs. Whether it’s serving in public office or on a board, volunteering for a school or sports team, or seeing a concern and jumping in to be a part of the solution to connect and convene others to accomplish a task, engaging in the community as a Leadership Springfield alumni makes a significant impact on this place we live, work and play.
graduate-level college credit
Graduates of Leadership Springfield’s Signature Class will now be able to claim graduate-level college credit from local universities for their experiences in the intensive nine-month program – at little to no additional cost.
Drury University
Drury University is offering Signature Class graduates (beginning with Signature Class 29) up to six hours of academic credit toward multiple 30-credit-hour master’s degree programs:
- Master of Arts in Communication
- Master of Nonprofit and Civic Leadership
- Master in Public Service and Safety Leadership.
This offer is retroactive to Class 29, which graduated in 2014. Three of the credits will count toward one of the program’s curriculum courses. Three additional credit hours may be earned by submitting a written request along with documentation of professional accomplishments and academic credentials. The courses will appear on a participant’s transcript after all degree requirements have been met.
There is no tuition cost, and Drury will waive the $25 application fee for all Leadership Springfield applicants. For more information and the waiver code, contact the College of Graduate Studies at (417) 873-7530 or [email protected].
Missouri State University
Missouri State University offers Leadership Springfield Signature Class graduates course credit toward multiple graduate certificates and master’s degree programs:
- Project Management
- Communication
- Graduate Certificate in Applied Communication or Conflict and Dispute Resolution, and/or Master of Arts in Communication
- Professional Studies
- Education
There will be no tuition cost for these six hours. Participants must first apply to and be accepted into the program of their choosing from the above options. Courses will be applied to the participant’s transcript after all other program requirements have been met. For more information, please contact the Graduate College at Missouri State University (417-836-5335 or [email protected]).
