Each year always brings new challenges as a school counselor and this school year did not disappoint. Not only did we experience a pandemic this school year, but many of us found ourselves either working from home or in the school building under extremely stressful circumstances. AND some of us just started our careers as school counselors. Yikes, what a combination. Okay, I am not a new counselor, but I am in a new position for the first time. So, this year, I decided to take a job as a college advisor and school counselor in a private school. Now, if you are in private school, you already know what I am about to say. I was busy in public school, but private school is no joke. When I say you handle it all, I mean you handle it all. In my school, I handle the master schedule, county reports, immunization, registration, withdrawals, records, and all honor's programming. Learning how to successfully keep up with all these tasks has been no joke and has kept me at work for long hours. Now that I am in March, I can finally see light at the end of the tunnel. Also, I now get to see the benefits of many programs that students participate in that I often took for granite. One of these programs is the Hugh O'Brian Youth Leadership Program (HOBY).
When I was told that I was the HOBY coordinator for our school, I was totally clueless on how this would even work. I knew about HOBY, but I did not understand the selection process. So, being the lone wolf, I looked at my next best resource...the students themselves. I decided to call in the students who had previously attended the leadership conference as sophomores and I asked them about their experiences. One student, we will call her Pam, said that HOBY was the biggest rush. She said that when she arrived at the conference a large herd of students rushed toward her. They immediately grabbed her bag and whisked her to her room. She was given a group (based on her personality) and was tasked to do things totally out of her comfort zone. She said it was one of the greatest experiences she ever had that allowed her to see outside of her tiny bubble into a much bigger world. Based on that information, I realized that choosing a student was more than just getting a teacher nomination, but would entail a process of selecting the right students to represent your school.
Now, if you are not familiar with HOBY, let me give you an overview. For more 50 years, HOBY has inspired young people to make a positive change in their home, school, workplace, and community. HOBY's mission is to inspire and develop a global community of youth and volunteers to a life dedicated to leadership, service, and innovation. To do this, HOBY seeks to partner with counselors to provide leadership development opportunities for students. In order to do this effectively, a thorough selection process needs to be developed by the school coordinator, aka you. If you have never coordinated this selection process or if you feel that you need to beef up the process, I have put together a HOBY nomination and selection process. This process includes a student presentation, forms, teacher evaluation, interview questions, and an acceptance letter for students. If you are not the HOBY coordinator, it would be a helpful resource for the person in charge of the process.
Although I have learned a lot this year, I am grateful that I got to see the benefits of sending students to HOBY. I hope this blog post sheds a new light on selecting the right students for this opportunity.
Hugh O'Brian Youth Leadership Student Orientation
Hugh O'Brian Youth Leadership Nomination and Selection Guide
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