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On March 25, Leadership Washington County's (LWC) participants hosted a Youth Leadership Conference for Washington County high school students. Nearly 50 students from eight high schools met at California University of Pennsylvania's Center for Innovation at Southpointe for the exciting one-day conference.

Nearly 50 students from eight Washington County high schools gathered for an exciting one-day workshop focused on leadership, volunteerism, and creative thinking.

Leadership Washington County Participants' main goal in implementing this program was to prepare these youth to be leaders today, as well as into the future.

The 9th, 10th, and 11th grade students were welcomed into the conference and almost immediately asked how "they would change the world." Responses ranged from cleaning up the parks to helping their local pet shelters, but the overall theme seemed to be that these youth want to work together to make the world a better place.

After the opening session, students were split into two groups. The 9th and 10th graders interacted in three different workshops that included topics on strengths, volunteerism and general leadership. Deb Hopkins, executive director of Pittsburgh Cares, encouraged the students to become involved in their communities now and to inspire their peers to do the same. Paul Tripoli, clinical counselor and owner of Paul J. Tripoli Counseling and Consulting, explained that while leadership can be difficult it is important that leaders "beat to their own drum" to inspire the crowd, rather than simply follow the crowd.

The 11th grade students also attended three workshops, which were focused on creative thinking and problem solving. Christine Blaine from the Washington Wild Things asked the students to work in groups to create a plan that would attract young people to the Wild Things games. Range Resources had the students focus on the year 2008 when the company came to Washington County and asked them to create a plan of how Range or any business would integrate and thrive in its new community.

Monongahela Valley Hospital added to the conference by having the students discuss how bullying can be prevented in not only schools, but also in their future workplace. 

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