“What can we do today to bring a brighter tomorrow?”

This is one of the core questions our youth interns were asking when they led a community conversation at Iola High School on Tuesday, January 23rd.

In partnership with K-State Research and Extension and The University of Kansas, they gathered hundreds of students together to talk about future-thinking and to share ideas and discuss opportunities for improving the future of Health, Education, Community, and Economics in their town.

They also shared their plans to bury a time-capsule and return to it in 40 years to revisit the memories and reflect on the progress we’ve made.

The goal of these Youth Conversations is to get the next generation engaged in thinking about the future, and to reflect on the ways our communities can progress so those who graduate and move away will want to return one day.

What are things we as a community do wrong, and what are things we do right? But most importantly we ask ourselves: What can we do today to bring a brighter tomorrow?

Hear from our interns, Brigham, Chris, and Shelby talk about this Youth Conversation: