Even the basics of the English language can form the framework for a speech about leadership.

Such was the case Wednesday afternoon as Miss North Dakota 2010 Katie Ralston of Carrington visited with youngsters at Williston's Hagan Elementary School.

Ralston returned to the community where she was crowned Miss North Dakota this past June to promote her platform "Walk This Way: The Path to Leadership."

Using the five vowels in the English language, Ralston shared her message with a very attentive group of students in grades K-3.

"The best kind of leader is the leader who leads by example," she said. Ralston helped the students to identify mayors, governors and presidents as important leaders.

"They are all of these big leaders, they have all of these responsibilities," she said. "And I'm a leader too."

These local, state and national leaders don't make decisions on their own, Ralston said, as they rely upon teams of people to help make decisions. It's also not just people who are older who may be important in your life, she added.

"My younger sister is five years younger than me and she is my biggest role model. I think she is great!" Ralston said.

Sometimes, however, leaders do make mistakes. So it remains important "to think for yourselves and make good choices," she added.

Ralston, 22, said she always has heard people say you have to be a good leader, but admitted when she was very young, she didn't know what that meant.

So to help today's youngsters more easily learn about leadership, she frames her message around the vowels to describe qualities all good leaders need.

The letter "a" represents attitude.

"Did you know that attitudes are contagious?" she asked the students. "You can have a good attitude or a bad attitude, and we want to have a good attitude. You have a lot of power with that good attitude."

The letter "e" represents energy, which is contagious like a good attitude, she said.

"Sometimes when we're leaders, we have to have good energy," Ralston said.

The letter "i" represents integrity, which she defines as making good choices and being honest.

"Because people want to follow a leader who will be honest and lead them down a good path," Ralston said.

The letter "o" represents opportunity from the perspective there are all kinds of things we can do to help people.

"There are all kinds of things we can do when we're leaders," she said.

Picking up a piece of trash or cleaning up their room without being asked are all opportunities that students can pursue that exhibit good leadership traits, she added.

Lastly, the letter "u" represents us.

"If we work as a team and do little things to make a big difference, we'll have a huge impact on Williston," Ralston said.

Without vowels, our words aren't complete and don't make sense, she said, and the same holds true for leaders in needing these five important qualities.

Ralston then had the students create the "wave," to display the concept of a chain reaction that results by following the actions of others.

"I want you to go and start little chain reactions, even if it's just a little smile," she said in closing her presentation.