Potential leaders filled the seats in the East Forum and Humanities rooms at Bakersfield College.

For three hours, local high school students learned about leadership, responsibility community involvement and decision-making at the first Student Leadership Conference hosted by the Center for Political Education at BC.

High school students also had the opportunity to interact with local leaders through workshops at the leadership conference which was held Feb. 21, said Sumeet Batth, president of the Associated Students of Bakersfield College.

“Basically, it gives students a taste of what’s here locally,” she said. “It gives students an opportunity of knowing what’s happening here in town. Students might look at this conference and say, ‘Hey I want to go to BC’ or ‘I want to get involved with student government,’ or even getting involved with the Center for Kern Political Education.’ ”

But more than just educating students, Batth said that the foundation was created for students to get involved in the community.

“The foundation was put together by our community leader(s) to reach out to the youth, high school and post-secondary, to get them involved and to become future leaders in Kern County,” she said. “It is essentially about mentoring them about leadership.”

Local attorney Milton Younger is the president of the Center for Political Education. He said that he and BC professor Jack Bringham worked together in establishing the conference.

“Basically, it is to interest, motivate and train the capable young people of our community to participate as community leaders,” Younger said. “But if we don’t get these apathetic young people to take an active role in their community … we’re not ever going to be able to solve problems.”

Younger also said that political programs, such as this one, have never been created in Kern County.

“You’re getting something that has never been delivered before,” he said. “There really hasn’t been a program like this before with leaders like Mayor Hall or Assemblyman Dean Florez.”

Florez shared his views on leadership and decision-making with local high school students.

“Leadership is really only about decision-making,” he said. “A leader can always stay in power on the amounts of good decisions they make on a day to day basis. … In a political perspective, that means making good decisions for your constituents.”

Florez also emphasized communication for leaders to be successful.

“Good leaders, first and foremost, are good communicators,” he said. “They either will move you by logic or by emotion. If you think about leadership or about someone who tries to lead you or a society, it really is a means to think about how important communication is.”

He said the youth of today will be future leaders by 2020.

“I would like to see people moving into leadership positions and position themselves in making decisions on the right things.”

Mayor Harvey Hall also participated in the three-hour event by sharing his experiences.

“I would hope that students learn today from this leadership conference and will be able to take those leadership qualities back in the community,” Hall said. “By doing that, they can enhance the quality of life whether it be through business or caring about people.”