Central College will host the Iowa HOBY Leadership Seminar June 15-17 for 208 high school sophomores. The acronym stands for Hugh O’Brian Youth Leadership.
The program has promoted development in the global community since its establishment in 1958. The seminar is aimed toward dedicating youth to leadership, service and innovation.
HOBY hosts a weekend seminar annually in June. The Iowa HOBY group is currently in their fourth year at Central and plans to hold the program on campus for at least two more years.
“We really love it here. Central is in a great location, and we love the set-up,” said Rachel Anderson, the Iowa HOBY Leadership Seminar Chair.
While attending the seminar, students will be housed in Scholte Hall and Graham Hall. They will also attend events in Douwstra Auditorium, Graham Conference Center, Maytag Student Center and Scholte Hall. Students will listen to two motivational speakers, Chris Bowers and Lamar Wombel. Bower will talk about preventing the little things in life from getting in the way. Wombel’s speech will inspire students to find their passion in life.
“Hugh O’Brien, our founder, went to Africa and saw all the service being done there and wanted to bring it back to the States,” said Anderson. “He wanted to target high school sophomores, because they’re at a point in their lives where they are trying to figure out what they want to do. Their high school careers will be ending soon, and this is a great way for students to bring what they learn at HOBY to their school and community.”
The HOBY seminars have been held in Iowa for more than 30 years, and each state hosts their own seminar in June. After the seminars, each state nominates two individuals for the National HOBY convention held in Chicago in July.
“At HOBY, we try to teach students how to think, not what to think,” said Anderson. “That’s the major thing we want students to get out of the program.”
