Member from two separate groups and walks of life came together Monday night at Harlan County High School to discuss their common interest in finding ways to help Harlan County flourish.

HCHS Principal Bob Howard told members of the audience how a few days before the meeting a few of the students interviewed him, asking his opinion on why people were leaving Harlan. Howard said he spoke with the students for 15 minutes when he realized he should not be able to give that many reasons.

“The scary part of this was, I shouldn’t have been able to sit there and give them all those reasons. I was giving them 15 minutes of reasons why people were leaving Harlan County, and if I could do that there is something wrong,” Howard said

HCHS student Jenny Clay introduced the Harlan County gifted leadership team to members of the Harlan County 2020 project, who were in attendance. Clay said they all were there for the same goal.

“Harlan County 2020 and the gifted leadership team share a common goal,” said Clay. “ We desire to see the county that we love flourish, so tonight we are going to talk about different problems in Harlan County and how we can work to solve them.”

After the students and their respective topics were introduced, everyone moved into the school’s library. Those attending were split into groups and rotated every five minutes between the students’ presentation areas. Toward the end of each presentation, members from the audience asked questions about the information presented to them.

Students spoke on topics ranging from needing mentorship programs, tourism for the county, why people were leaving Harlan, drug awareness, Harlan County pride and a topic the students presented to officials in Frankfort last year — the increased drop-out rate.

Jeanne Ann Lee, gifted leadership coordinator for the county school system, said a member of Harlan County 2020 program had met with the students the previous school year. During the brain-storming session with the students, they came up with several topics they felt were important to students and needed addressing by state officials.

Kathy Jones, from Harlan County 2020, said Tuesday the students had completed a lot of research and came up with some interesting findings. Jones said one of the most interesting facts she came away with was how through a survey the students had figured out sophomores were the most likely group to try drugs.

Lee said the HCHS gifted leadership team came about when the three county high schools were getting ready for consolidation. They took five students from each of the schools and had them work on issues while advising leadership in the county about student concerns.

“Those first 15 students did a lot of work advising the leaders of this district on what was important to the kids,” Lee said.

Gifted resource teacher Karen Cox said the students show examples of leadership every day and their ability in everything they are involved with.

“They represent themselves and their school well,” she said. “You can see them acting as leaders if you go into the classrooms, extracurricular activities, even in the hallway. They are consistently exhibiting leadership qualities and acting as ambassadors for Harlan County.”

Student participating on Monday included Clay, Will Parker, Jacob Whitaker, Jenny Clay, Kristie Williams, Candace Boggs, Brooke Sheffield, Brooke Bledsoe, Jordan Smith, Olivia Marsee, Brent Roy, Brooklyn Woods, Larry Williamson, Courtney Adams and Danielle Middleton.