HOBY Application Form – Due to Gateway on or before Wednesday, October 22, 2008                        PLEASE PRINT

Name: ________________________________  ID #:_________HR/Teacher: _________________ Room #: ______

Visit:  http://www.hoby.org/Students/index.shtml  E-mail:______________________________________________________________

HUGH O'BRIAN YOUTH LEADERSHIP MISSION  The mission of HOBY is to seek out, recognize and develop leadership potential commencing with high school sophomores.  Seminars began in 1958; approximately 14,000 sophomores participate annually.

THE VISION As an educator, you know better than anyone that tomorrow’s leaders are in your classrooms today. Hugh O'Brian Youth Leadership (HOBY) motivates and develops future leaders, preparing them for positions in their schools and helping them to expand the talents that will serve them and their communities well in the future.

FULFILLING HOBY’S PURPOSE  HOBY goes about fulfilling its purpose through unique weekend programs with a highly interactive process, rather than having students take notes while adults lecture. We introduce high school sophomores to distinguished leaders of the community from various sectors such as business, technology, education, government, arts, and science. Through intense but  informal panel discussions, HOBY participants get a realistic look at their nation, its people and their own role in the world community.

EXPECTED OUTCOMES AND BENEFITS HOBY Leadership Seminars are designed by a volunteer committee to create an experience for your sophomore leader that will produce the following results
· Students learn to think critically. HOBY motivates students by showing them that “how to think” can be just as important as “what to think.”
· Students enhance their leadership skills. Through HOBY’s format of question-and-answer sessions, small group discussions, and leadership exercises, the 10th graders come to better understand leadership and begin to identify their own particular leadership strengths. Elective sessions with a specific leadership theme, keynote speakers, and leadership simulation exercises complement their individual understanding.
· Students learn more about free enterprise, including democracy, volunteerism and service to community. Through exposure to professional leaders in these arenas, students get a clearer picture of what sustains our way of life and what must be done to preserve their own vocational future.
· Students discover that they are not alone in their desire to lead and to make their schools and communities better places. Meeting students from their own communities and state who feel the same way is a powerful and reaffirming experience.
· Students can list HOBY on their college applications. HOBY participation can be beneficial to the application process, as it is internationally recognized as one of the premiere youth leadership organizations in the country, unique in being the only one of its kind to focus on high school sophomores.
· Many of HOBY’s cooperating organizations and related youth programs offer other benefits to HOBY Alumni in the form of trips, scholarships, discounts, and opportunities. Students are motivated to accept the challenge of leadership and catch a vision of what can be. All aspects of the Leadership Seminar are geared to encourage the students to see leadership as a life-long goal worth pursuing. At the conclusion of the HOBY Seminar, students are asked to undertake 100 hours of community service during the next 12 months and to report back to HOBY, their classmates, and their sponsors on their achievements. They come away from their Seminar experience having learned that as individuals they are important and that their thoughts and actions can make a difference.

Candidate Qualities:  Outstanding communications skills, critical and/or creative thinking, creative problem solving, strong decision-making skills, sensitivity to the needs and concerns of others, a charismatic personality, courage to speak one’s beliefs and to challenge authority, and community service participation.

List School/Community Leadership Role Highlights below (if attaching another sheet, please use the below format):

Essay Directions:  In only 75 to 100 words (check Tools, Word Count), answer the question below.  Pay attention to spelling, sentence structure, and grammar.  Print (computer generated) your essay on the back of this page; do NOT include your name on the essay since candidate essays are anonymous to the selection committee. “In your school and community, what is the most rewarding and challenging aspect of being a leader for you?”

Revised 09/2008