Southeastern to host prestigious youth leadership conference
Wednesday, May 29, 2019
by: Tonya Lowentritt
HAMMOND – For the first time in over 10 years, the Louisiana Hugh O’Brien Youth
Leadership Seminar is holding its program on a college campus in Louisiana, and they
have chosen Southeastern Louisiana University to host 130 high-achieving high school
students on campus. The conference will take place June 7 - 9 in Southeastern’s Student
Union.
HOBY is a non-profit, 501 c3 organization operating in all 50 states and over
10 foreign countries and coordinated by local volunteers. The leadership seminar provides
top-performing high school sophomores from across the state with the opportunity to
develop leadership and critical thinking skills.
“Each year, approximately 10,000 high school sophomores from across the country
join one of HOBY’s 70 State Leadership Seminars to recognize their leadership talents
and apply them to become effective, ethical leaders in their home, school, workplace
and community,” said Director of Events and Conference Services Cally Berner. “We
are thrilled that HOBY has selected Southeastern as the site for the Louisiana seminar.”
The seminar hosts students handpicked by their guidance counselors from most
parishes in the state.
“The students are diverse with respect to geography, income, gender and race.
Many of our alumni go on to become leaders in business, government, entertainment,
law, and medicine,” said HOBY Board President Matthew Wallace. “Moving our seminar
to a college campus will allow many of our students to be exposed to a higher education
institution for the first time. In a time where Louisiana faces an increased ‘brain
drain,’ hosting the HOBY seminar at one of our state’s higher education institutions
provides a win-win for both the program and the future of our state.”
