Warren Mayor Michael O'Brien told approximately 80 students from 21 Trumbull County Schools how his parents' influence made a difference in his life.
O'Brien offered the keynote address during the Trumbull County Educational Service Center's 24th annual Civic Day luncheon held last month at DiVieste's Banquet Centre.
The students spent the morning shadowing business people, local officials and community leaders to see what they do and how they do it.
''This helps show young men and women how to set professional and personal goals,'' said Victoria A. Giovangnoli, superintendent of the TCESC. The service center works with Trumbull County school districts to provide educational leadership and instruction in several areas including curriculum development, special education and technology.
''My parents believed in Roosevelt's creed that it is the person in the arena that counts, not the person who stands on the sidelines and complains,'' O'Brien said.
O'Brien told students they should make a commitment every day to help one person so their burden is not so heavy.
''We can all work together to build a stronger community, a stronger country and a stronger world,'' he said. ''We must absolutely be the change that we seek in the world.''
The event was sponsored by the Brookfield and North Bloomfield Optimist Clubs, the Conservation League Inc., and the Cortland Lions Club.