The Butler County Leaders of Tomorrow dinner held Tuesday evening showed how rich this county is with young people who are striving not only to make themselves successful, but also to better their communities as well.

The dinner, sponsored by Sprint and the Butler Eagle and held at the Butler County Community College Convocation Center, honored 130 students who were nominated for the top Leader of Tomorrow award - $1,000. Cash awards of $100 were given to the nine other finalists.

This year's winner is Clinton John Orloski, a Slippery Rock High School senior, who has been involved in a broad range of community activities as well as numerous activities at his school. He is the embodiment of what the leadership award is all about and a great example for young people who will follow in the years ahead.

But Tuesday's event, while putting Orloski in the spotlight, brought deserved praise to the other 129 young people whose efforts have made their schools, municipalities and county better - and, no doubt, their homes too.

Meanwhile, the leadership dinner, which was held for the first time in 2003, continues to grow into the kind of event that the achievements of these young people merit.

Thousands of county residents have benefited from the work of these young men and women. It would seem that this county can be confident that they will continue to build upon these efforts as they pursue their respective careers and ambitions.

The leadership awards are open to youth in grades 7 through 12. As occurred for the prior two leadership dinners, those judging the nominees this year had a difficult task in making the finalist selections. These 130 young people have done so much in so many areas of community service, volunteerism, and school extracurricular activities, and have been very successful academically.

Tuesday's dinner showed that there is indeed hope for a better future, if such people are eventually in charge.