SIDNEY — HOBY State Leadership Seminars provide youth with unique leadership training to equip them with the tools they need to make a positive change in their home, school, and community.

Mackenzie Bates and Ian Humphrey, residents of Sidney, Ohio, recently attended the Hugh O’Brian Youth Leadership Seminar held at Urbana University in Urbana, Ohio. Bates and Humphrey joined more than 208 other young high school leaders from the region. Representing Sidney High School, Bates is the daughter of Shane and Jody Bates, and Humphrey is the son of Michel and Lori Humphrey.

Each spring, select area sophomores from public and private high schools convene at one of the 70 State Leadership Seminars across the country to recognize their leadership talents and apply them to becoming effective and ethical leaders. Student participants Quentin and Adrianne, HOBY Ambassadors take part in hands-on activities, meet leaders in their state, and explore their own personal leadership skills while learning how to lead others and make a positive impact in their community.

At the end of their seminars, HOBY Ambassadors are challenged to give back by serving at least 1 00 volunteer hours in their communities. Students who complete the Leadership for Service (L4S) Challenge within 12 months of their seminar are eligible for the HOBY L4S Challenge Award and the President’s Volunteer Service Award. Alumni who log 4,000 hours of service receive the President’s Call to Service Award from HOBY. To date, HOBY Ambassadors have performed more than 3 million hours of volunteer service in their communities.

Following a motivational meeting with Dr. Albert Schweitzer during a trip to Africa in 1958, actor Hugh O’Brian was inspired to establish Hugh O’Brian Youth Leadership. “One of the things Dr. Schweitzer said to me was that the most important thing in education was to teach young people to think for themselves,” O’Brian said. “From that inspiration, and with the support of others who believe in youth and the American dream, I started HOBY to seek out, recognize, and develop outstanding leadership potential among our nation’s youth.”

For 56 years, Hugh O’Brian Youth Leadership (HOBY) has helped to cultivate leaders by inspiring a global community of youth and volunteers to a life dedicated to leadership, service, and innovation. HOBY programs annually provide more than 10,000 local and international high school students the opportunity to participate in unique leadership training, service learning and motivation-building experiences. HOBY also provides adults the opportunity to make a significant impact on the lives of youth by volunteering, and today more than 4,000 volunteers annually and over 425,000 alumni proudly make up the HOBY family.

For further information on HOBY, visit www.hoby.org. “Like” Hugh O’Brian Youth Leadership on Facebook at www.facebook.com/HOBY and follow the organization on Twitter via @HOBY.