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HOBY-Student-Leadership

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HOBY: Students Learn Leadership Skills

(with photos)

BY MICHELE HOGAN

Selected sophomores from Newtown High School and Fairfield Prep attended a

full-day conference Thursday, September 25, in the Alexandria Room at Edmond

Town Hall. Discussions centered on issues of societal prejudices, summer

opportunities and drunk drivers. This conference was prepared and presented

not by teachers, but by fellow students.

The gathering was organized entirely by Hugh O'Brian Youth Foundation (HOBY)

alumni, Newtown High School students Ashwini Srikantiah, Lindsey Malloy,

Christina Dent and Courtney Lyons.

According to Ashwini, a Newtown High School junior, "the main purpose of HOBY

is to get students thinking about issues, to give them a firm understanding of

our world today."

Ashwini and her colleagues selected the topics of this local conference for a

variety of reasons.

Drunk driving was chosen because of its importance to student safety;

enriching summer programs (such as travel abroad, volunteering at Danbury

Hospital and jobs at Parks and Recreation) because of its high level of

student interest; and questions of social diversity because "Newtown lacks

social diversity, but it's a part of the world."

From the selection of speakers and the planning of leadership games, to all

the details of scheduling and acquiring of free meals for the delegates, the

students ran the show.

This process of student alumni strengthening their own leadership skills while

encouraging leadership in others is one of the purposes of the HOBY

organization.

Students Speak Up

Started by actor Hugh O'Brian, who played Wyatt Earp in a television show that

aired in the early 1960s, the Hugh O'Brian Youth Foundation (HOBY) has become

a major initiative in developing leadership potential in today's youth.

It has snowballed from one conference with about 30 young people in California

in the early 1970s to hundreds of conferences held across the country, 90

state conferences (some states have several conferences) and one national

conference annually.

To be a leader, you need to feel comfortable on center stage.

Students get a taste of being the initiators of action with leadership games,

such as the practice of spontaneously calling out "attention alert," and

clapping rhythmically while others imitate.

Students are also expected to formulate questions for panelists and guest

speakers.

Speaking Out

Justin Bandura, a student speaker at the recent meeting, commented that "if

you speak the truth, people hear that." Justin, speaking on societal prejudice

and what it means to be Hispanic, identified several common misconceptions of

Hispanics: "So many people think of Mexicans crossing the border, and a

Hispanic temper."

Justin believes in breaking these myths and is developing his leadership

potential while expressing what he believes. He said that second languages

should be introduced earlier in Newtown. "In Bridgeport, Spanish instruction

starts in kindergarten." In Newtown, it is not introduced until seventh grade.

Other issues raised at HOBY meetings have been the effects of media on

society, AIDS awareness, organ and blood donations, the role of sports in

society, and teacher's unions.

HOBY students also help as volunteers for Habitat for Humanity and by

organizing events for the Special Olympics, recently held in Southbury. They

are also starting to plan for a Senior Citizen's Prom for local area seniors.

State Conference

Two hundred sophomores attended the Connecticut State Conference last March,

and each school in Connecticut may send one sophomore to the conference

scheduled for March 12-15, 1998.

The selection process varies from school to school. At Newtown High School,

interested students fill out an application form. A panel of teachers and

students choose the top five candidates for an interview. Pomperaug School

also requires a short essay from applicants.

Steve Foss, a student from Pomperaug School and the President of the Alumni

Association for the State of Connecticut, has attended many HOBY conferences.

He hopes to apply what he has learned about leadership to a career in

politics.

Steve was one of two delegates selected at the Connecticut State Conference

last March to receive an all-expense-paid trip to the national HOBY

conference, the World Leadership Congress which was held in Houston, Texas,

last year.

At the conference Steve learned about the topic of multi-culturalism by

listening to speakers representing 17 different religions. "It makes you

realize that not everyone in the world is the same, but that is not a bad

thing."