Bright future
Editorial

This week we are taking space in our newspaper to recognize students in our community who appear ready to step up and lead.

These six young adults stand out as future leaders of our community and world. They are practicing their leadership methods and learning how to successfully inspire people.

The students participate in mock governments and compete for offices in clubs and organizations. Through these programs, they will learn about themselves, figure out who they are, what their goals are and become powerful leaders in a world that is yet to be determined.

No one knows what type of future this next generation will face. But those who are coming of age now will be the ones who create and define the 21st Century. These young adults were born about 1990 and are expected to live well into the 2060s and 2070s.

To have an idea of who these young adults will become take a look at the world through their eyes. The World Wide Web was born (1992) shortly after they were, and by the time they hit middle school more than 1 billion people were connected.

For these young people, Ronald Reagan has always been a former president, the Cold War has only been part of the history books and AIDS has always existed.

Before they hit their teens, the federal building in Oklahoma City had been bombed, President Bill Clinton had been impeached, school shootings were making the news nearly every year and the World Trade Center had been attacked twice.

These facts neither make the world an easier place nor a harder place to exist, just simply a different place.

But look at these students. They represent a larger group of our future leaders both in these four towns as well as in the state and in the world.

They believe in helping others. They believe in problem solving. And they believe in succeeding. By doing all those things, they set an example worth following.