Twenty-five leaders of tomorrow graduated from Youth Leadership Class 21 last week.

The students represented six schools in Dallas County, including Dallas County, Keith, Selma, Morgan and Concordia College Alabama.

“So many times we have heard it said that children or the youth are the leaders of tomorrow,” said Callie Nelson, county extension coordinator.

“The 25 youth that recently completed the 2017-2018 Youth Leadership Selma-Dallas County class gave those in attendance great hope that our future is in good hands; and that they are eager to prepare and step into the role of leadership.”

The class spent the year learning about their community, county and state, the needs and issues facing the community and learned how to make a difference in the community through service learning projects.

Nelson said some of the specific topics the students learned about during their time in leadership, which is a 10-month program, were financial literacy, diversity and interviewing skills.

“Over the past 10 months, they have toured industries in our county such as Honda Lock America and International Paper, visited a sustainable farm, the hospital, the county jail and participated in a mock city council meeting, just to name a few of their tours,” Nelson said.

According to Nelson, one of the students said they grew up in Selma and did not know their city like they do now.

Nelson said another student said they enjoyed the diversity training the most because they got to step out of their normal environment and meet other people.

Youth Leadership is sponsored by Leadership Selma-Dallas County, which is for adults. The youth program is open to rising juniors and seniors. Students are chosen through an application process.