Mancos youths have been taking on the world for years. Now two more leaders are emerging, and they haven't even graduated high school yet.

Faith Asnicar and Kamaria Hill recently attended the Colorado Hugh O'Brian Youth Leadership (HOBY) conference in Lakewood. HOBY is a national organization that promotes leadership in the young people of today. To participate in the conference, high school sophomores are nominated by their teachers. The potential candidates are recognized by their communication skills, problem-solving, critical and creative thinking, and other abilities.

"When I found out, I was super-excited because I wanted it so badly," Hill said of her nomination. The girls had heard about HOBY from kids who had gone before, telling them that it was really awesome and life-changing, "and I think it was" said Asnicar.

The conference consisted of many presentations, group activities, skill building, and cheers. The girls were each given a group to be with for the duration of the conference.

"I was group B - we were the Bodacious Beach Bros," said Asnicar. "We had a bunch of beach stuff like pool noodles. When we did rol1 call, we were always like bro..."

Hill was in group C. They named themselves the Camping Camels.

"I loved like every part of it, but my favorite part was meeting the people," she reflected. "It's weird, I was thinking about it and coming home I was like, I know some of these people at HOBY better than I know my best friends."

Asnicar had a tough time narrowing down her favorite part about HOBY.

"If I could say everything was my favorite, I'd say that," she said, then decided to talk about the impact speaker Jamie Utt had. His presentation made some of the audience cry. "I really want Jamie to come to our school," she said. "They need to hear that there's something else out there." Hill said.

"It (his speech) was life-changing - it really changes your outlook."

Asnicar explained how Utt encouraged them to jump out of their comfort zones.

"This is a really small area. There's not that many people here so there's not that much diversity," she said. "Everyone gets stuck in this rut about how things are."

The girls encouraged future sophomores to apply for HOBY and plan on applying to go back themselves.

"I really want to go back as junior staff," said Hill. "I don't care if other stuff clashes with it, I want to go."