Each summer, HOBY invites promising students to attend their seminars, looking to inspire the next generation of leaders. This year, three Liberty sophomores—Ryan Kirschner, Tyson Aramaki, and Karinn Sytsma—will attend the Washington HOBY Leadership Seminar from June 15 to 18.

“HOBY Leadership stands for Hugh O’Brien Youth Leadership. The organization puts together multiple four-day seminars across the nation in which sophomores within a state gather to collaborate and work on becoming stronger leaders in their communities,” sophomore Ryan Kirschner said.

Certain HOBY programs offer unique leadership training, service-learning, and motivation building experiences to students who are selected by their schools. “In order to attend, I had to go through the application process that involved a leadership resume and a response to an essay prompt,” Kirschner said.

During the seminar, students will learn leadership skills that will carry into their future.

“We get to learn more about how each of our strengths and weaknesses can be utilized when leading others in order to make an impact in our community,” Kirschner said. “Basically, it’s a lot of activities with a lot of people.”

At Washington State University, the students will attend workshops and engage in activities designed to provide them the resources to grow as leaders.

“I expect there to be a lot of people, and I’m sure there will be a lot of icebreakers and activities. I imagine that an ordinary day will start with breakfast, move through some sort of morning curriculum until lunch, begin an afternoon curriculum until dinner, eat dinner, have some kind of night activity and then the process repeats,” Kirschner said.

The program is made to inspire and empower those who are involved. The camp is a way to learn how to be motivational and gain leadership qualities. The students learn to connect with the people around them, and with that come new friendships.

“I’m most excited about meeting new people and making new friends. My sister met one of her best friends when she went. I’m excited to be around some people who, for the most part, are similar to me,” Kirschner said.

Another Liberty student who will be attending the seminar is junior Christina Tuttle. After participating in the program last year, Tuttle will be returning as a Team Alumni to help coordinate the seminar and lead activities.

“Going to the seminar last year was such a unique experience. Even though we covered a lot of serious topics, it was a lot of fun to meet new people,” Tuttle said. “I decided to volunteer with HOBY so other sophomores will have the opportunity to have a similar experience.”

For over 50 years, HOBY has been working to motivate the public. The organization is encouraging people to be involved and to make a difference in whatever community they take part in.