MORGANTON - Students at Western Piedmont Community College got a chance to participate in a forum that organizers hope will spur youth to get involved in politics.

Generation Engage, a Washington, D.C. based, non-partisan youth-civic-engagement initiative, set up a video feed Thursday to link Western Piedmont with students at Wake Tech Community College. The forum hosted former U.S. Senator John Edwards and former mayor of Raleigh Tom Fetzer. Edwards and Fetzer were on the campus of Wake Tech.

After short speeches by both Edwards and Fetzer, encouraging students to get involved in politics, the two men then took questions from students at the Morganton campus.

One student from Western Piedmont asked the men what state leaders propose to do about job losses.

Fetzer said jobs in the state were lost due to a change in global dynamics, adding the state should become active in retraining its work force. He said much of that training will take place on community college campuses.

Edwards said it is hard to tell a 55-year-old who has always worked in textiles that he has to retrain for a new job. He said many times it's not just about economics, but there is a phycological impact as well.

On the question of what plans are in place to replace the jobs lost, Edwards was clear.

"There is no plan about what America is going to do about this," Edwards said. "We are engaged in a long-term economic struggle."

Edwards said many of the jobs that have been lost were part of what made up the middle class in the country.

"We've been separated more and more by income," Edwards said.

Education is the key to narrowing the gap, Edwards said.

"We need to make sure that every person who wants to go to college gets to go, without coming out deeply in debt," Edwards said.

The men took another question from the Morganton campus before they moved on to take questions from students at Central Piedmont Community College in Charlotte.

For Western Piedmont student Lesley Lor, the president of the college's global village club, the forum was a chance to get involved.

"This is very interesting for me," Lor said. "This is a good way for me to communicate with them (political leaders)."

Student Kelli Spartz agreed, saying it was the closest she's ever been to big-name political leaders.

For more information on Generation Engage, visit the organization's Web site at www.GenerationEngage.org.