MOUNT PLEASANT - Marquan Mosley is used to meeting his Southeast Conference rivals on the football field and the basketball court - not in a banquet hall brainstorming how to make positive changes in their schools.

On Wednesday, Mosley, a Case High School senior, joined roughly 250 other students from 10 southeast Wisconsin high schools for the "Leadership Café."

It was an opportunity for students to share their perspectives and ideas for improving life at school for all students.

Students like Mosley, 18, see how challenging it can be to create a positive environment in a large high school like his.

"There are 2,000 students in one building and you're forcing them to understand each other when they've all been raised differently," Mosley said.

Students from Burlington, Kenosha, Muskego, Oak Creek, Racine and South Milwaukee packed the Roma Lodge, where they spent the day in groups talking with their peers about issues like diversity, cliques, communication and respect.

Roseann Mason, director of community dialogues in the University of Wisconsin-Parkside's Center for Community Partnerships, helped organize the event with a group of principals from the 10 schools that participate in the Southeast Conference.

"They usually come together for competition," Mason said. "Today, they're coming together in cooperation."

Mosley was one of two student facilitators who helped keep the daylong event rolling smoothly.

Kalee Gauger, 15, a Burlington High School sophomore and the other student facilitator, said she's positive about what young people can do to change things and make them better, even though she's encountered adults who've told her nothing will change.

"Adults ask, 'What can we do for our youth, what can we do for our youth?' and then they don't ask the youth," Gauger said. "If they understood us, they'd have a better perception."

Nola Starling-Ratliff, principal at Horlick High School, said Wednesday's event was a way for principals to learn how to better serve their students, especially athletes and student leaders and help encourage them within their schools.

A similar group of only student athletes met last year to listen to a speaker. This year, the group of Southeast Conference principals decided to try something different by including student leaders, Starling-Ratliff said.

"We wanted to hear from them, so we decided to let them speak. They have good ideas," Starling-Ratliff said. "They see the need to respect one another and go beyond their own community."