Junior, Sariah Smith, recipient of the 2024 Hugh O’Brien Youth Award, attended the World Leadership Congress in Chicago this summer. Winners of the award show leadership, innovation, and service every year. About 200 students from 50 different countries attended the retreat.
The HOBY foundation’s main focus is to teach young leaders and to connect high school students from all around the world.
“Overall, I was taught how to be a better leader, and we had many speakers come in and talk to us. There were at least two [speakers] every day, and they would lead different activities for us about leadership. They helped the quieter kids feel comfortable interacting with everyone,” said Smith.
She said her favorite aspect was, “the service projects we did. We made dog toys out of our old clothes that we brought in. It was like what we do here at school, but it was through the actual foundation that runs it.”
Other fun activities included a formal dance, a talent show for all the students, and small group discussions.
“We also had ‘lightning talks’ at the end of every night where we would hang out with our group and talk about what we did that day that stood out to us or inspired us. It gave the quieter people a chance to open up, and it was overall really impactful,” said Smith.
She said she also made lifelong memories and friends through this experience.
“I still talk to the friends I made there today. We call every Saturday to catch up with each other and it’s super fun,” said Smith. “It was really impactful because I learned that although we are from different places in the world, we are not that different when it comes to certain experiences.”
The HOBY conference taught Sariah all about how to be a good leader and connected her to people all around the world. She will continue to be involved in this program and be a leader.
