this is the way we hoby-o!: October 2016

10.30.2016

Georgia HOBY Newsletter:

Eighty-First Edition, October 30, 2016

Featured Alumna: Sydney McRee '06

As I reflect on my HOBY experience, it's hard to believe that it has been ten years since my parents dropped me off at Oglethorpe University while Junior Staffers were loudly cheering and beating on my car screaming "Welcome to HOBY!!".
I think one of the reasons it's so hard to believe that my Ambassador year was 10 years ago is because HOBY isn't just a specific life event--it doesn't end on Sunday afternoon at Closing Ceremony--HOBY truly is a way of life.
Howard Thurman once said "Don't ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come Alive." That's what HOBY does--it inspires young leaders to come alive by exploring their passions and plants the seeds to cultivate a culture of leadership among them.
HOBY equipped me with the tools to become even more involved as a leader in my local community throughout the remainder of high school, college and beyond. Seminars throughout the years and the friends that I have made through HOBY have served as a constant inspiration and reminder to lead with a vision fueled by what I am passionate about. My passion is helping others and serving the community. The importance of servant leadership was instilled in me at a young age, and HOBY helped to remind me that by following that passion I can make a difference.

HOBY Info:

Georgia HOBY Store

The store is now live! Shop to help support our future seminars and enjoy all the new designs to represent HOBY year-round!
Here is the site! Enjoy: https://hoby.formstack.com/forms/hoby_ga_store

Amazon Smile

If you shop at Amazon, then switch to Amazon Smile (https://smile.amazon.com/ch/94-2861279). It is the exact same website, but 0.5% of purchases will be donated to a charity of your choice.
Choose HOBY Georgia (Hugh O'Brian Youth Leadership) as your charity!

Social Networking!!!

Find us on Facebook: HOBY Georgia
Follow us on Twitter: @GA_HOBY
Follow us on Instagram: hoby_georgia
Follow us on Vine: Georgia HOBY
Follow us on SnapChat: hobygeorgia
Check our the website: www.gahoby.org
Check out our YouTube channel: HOBY Georgia
Check out http://hobycheers.wikidot.com/list-of-hoby-cheers for awesome cheers

Hours

Keep logging them! Can you accomplish the 100 Hour Challenge? Georgia HOBY knows that you can. Here is the place to do so: https://reg.hoby.org/HOBYL4S/login.aspx?ReturnUrl=%2fHOBYL4S%2f
Need ideas for Volunteering projects? Email gahobyalumniadvisor@gmail.com, check the HOBY website: http://hoby.org, and/or research into what your community needs!
How far has your Chain Reaction of Kindness reached?

This Blog

If you would like post a "My Favorite HOBY Experience" in the future on this blog, then email gahobyfundraising@gmail.com also with your response!
Be on the lookout for the next Newsletter or My Favorite HOBY Experience Post

10.26.2016

2017 Junior Staff Apps!

NorthWest 2017 is at Agnes Scott College and the weekend commitment is June 1 at 4pm - June 4 at 4pm
Here is the NorthWest 2017 app! It is Due November 4th
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfkD0H3IcJQrbHN_SHoe2Q4aD5FCD1i8KrPsAO3xoLQLSCbDg/viewform

SouthEast 2017 is at George College and State University and the weekend commitment is June 8 at 4pm - June 11 at 4pm

Here is the SouthEast 2017 app! It is due November 10th
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdUo46K3rDvKEUOlj-vWG-Z5uKMmpd-g6kWodjHK1f0gUircQ/viewform?c=0&w=1

Requirements for applying:

You can apply to both seminars but ensure that

You can commit to the entire HOBY weekend you apply for (all of one seminar or both)
Ensure that your school will send a 2017 ambassador to either GANW or GASE
Fundraise $250 per seminar by May 1st (so $500 if you apply to both)
Accomplish the 100 hours of service by May 1st

10.20.2016

Georgia HOBY Newsletter:

Eightieth Edition, October 20, 2016

Featured Alumna: Michelle Kancheva '13

It was 2013 when I found myself starting my HOBY journey, though I didn't know how much I would invest in it at that time. Everyone talks about how their pivoting point for the weekend may have been an inspirational speaker, one of the many activities that we as ambassadors did, or even simply the junior staff that banged on our car doors and windows with enthusiasm. For me, though, it was a little simpler than that. For me, it was just an encounter with a then Junior Staffer.

Though I don't remember much of the details of that first of many encounters, I do remember how I felt after that first meeting with Ben Lutz. One of the members of my group happened to come from his high school, and she apparently knew him well. So he strolled on over and picked up a conversation with her. Somehow, I got into the mix of it all, and though I don't recall much of that now distant conversation, I do remember finally feeling a sense of inclusion and purpose in this whole experience of HOBY. Skip ahead to after the seminar and, as I was chanting all the cheers to myself that I had learned and thinking about the magnificent weekend HOBY brought to me, I started to ponder how I would manage to be selected to go back. As if he heard my thoughts, I received a message at 7:47 PM on June 2nd of 2013 from the very Ben Lutz himself reading, “Get your 100 hours and I'll help you with your application in February!” And so my HOBY journey began.

With Ben's kindness, he proofread my the essays I wrote and told me if I should revise more or not, and I turned in an application that I was proud of and worked hard on. I heard back soon after that I had been accepted as a Junior Staff member and, of course, Ben was there to congratulate me. Through my years on Junior Staff, though Ben hasn't had to hold my hand as much as during that initial application by any stretch of the imagination, his presence has always been one of enthusiasm and peace simultaneously.

Thanks to the confidence Ben helped instill in me for my own abilities, my years at HOBY have always helped me grow as a person. My confidence in myself allowed me to truly show my staff members who I am without worry of ridicule, and it has allowed me to not only show my best work during the seminars, but also grow impeccably close with my team members. With every year that I have gone back to HOBY, my confidence has grown, and my friendships have only gotten deeper, so I have much to thank HOBY and all of the people involved for helping create the woman I am today. Through the people I've met, the teams I have worked with, the speeches I've heard, and the ambassadors I have seen, I, today, am proud to say that much of the servant leadership knowledge and experience I have acquired has truly helped me give back to my community. In my spare time now, which seems to become shorter and shorter as the years wane on, I help raise guide dogs for veterans or blind citizens, and I have helped found an organization to provide mentorship for at risk teens in a local high school. I've even seen the impact of HOBY in my academic and social spheres through my acceptances in elite honor societies to the wonderful conversations I am able to have with professors and through the amazing people that I have met and am able to call my friends.

Though daily tasks after a weekend at HOBY may not seem as enthusiastic, I have found that by continuing the spirit of HOBY in everyday life, doors that I had never imagined would even be there for me to step through truly open. For that reason, I've made it my life's goal to continue that very same kindness, patience, and joy that Ben first showed to me to anyone around me willing to take my extended hand.