BLACKSVILLE, W.Va. (WBOY) — As a part of homecoming week at Clay-Battelle Middle/High School, Attorney General Patrick Morrisey stopped by to speak with students.

Morrisey said that he aimed to help inspire the kids in attendance during his speech and also inform them about certain things happening in the state’s government.

“I think it’s part of the role of the attorney general and people in public office to talk to kids and inspire them to achieve,” Morrisey said. He also tried to motivate the students by speaking about some of the different pathways for education and the job force in the state.

Morrisey said that no matter what a young person’s career goals are, “they need to talk with people who’ve come before them and they need to know that they too can do it as well.”

By doing this, Morrisey said he hoped to give the students a sense of the “incredible possibilities” in front of them in the state of West Virginia. He said that he decided to come to Clay-Battelle because it is located in a rural part of the state that doesn’t always get heavy traffic. “I think it’s important to come and let them know they’re important as well,” he added.

“It’s great to be here, our kids are our most precious resource,” Morrisey said. “I wanna let them know that there’s a future to stay in West Virginia. It’s gonna be an economically vibrant future, and they have some people fighting for them to try to make that future as bright as possible.”

Morrisey also spoke to the students about some of the dangers associated with vaping. He feels that usage of vapes is a “real deep concern here in West Virginia,” especially because the devices can sometimes be “littered with fentanyl.” “That’s a huge problem in West Virginia and across our country,” Morrisey added.

Regarding the students he spoke to, Morrisey said that the kids he spoke to “are our future, and I couldn’t be more proud of the kids that were there today. That was one of the best groups of kids I’ve been before in a long time.”

Following his speech, Morrisey held a Q&A to allow students to ask him questions about some of his talking points and also answered some personal questions about himself. Morrisey also stopped in Marion County on Wednesday to speak to a group of people there.