Georgia HOBY Newsletter:
Twenty-Seventh Edition, January 24, 2015

Featured Alumnus: Johnelle Simpson II '10

When most Georgia HOBY alumni think back on their HOBY experience, their first thought may be the mini heart attacks they were given upon their arrival. Interestingly enough, when I pulled up to HOBY at Georgia Southwestern State University in 2010, I was mistaken for a college student and had to get back in my car and drive up again. At this time I didn’t know that this weekend would be so OUTSTANDING and provide me with friendships, strength, and a place to call home. After introducing the other students to the South Georgia gnats and heat, we ended up singing in the rain, going fishing on a bright sunny day, and grieving over the moose.

It did not take long for my peacock type personality to take flight. During the talent portion of HOBY, I practiced my speech for a national competition that would follow a few weeks later. The support and encouragement I received from HOBY is what I believe propelled me to place first in the nation. With a greater sense of community service, I went back to my school and community and began to give back even more. No one could stop me. It was my mission to make sure I was giving back every time I had the opportunity. 

I am currently attending the University of Georgia where I study Risk Management & Insurance and Political Science. I have been very involved on the UGA campus. My affiliations with groups such as the Student Government Association and the Arch Society allow me to give back to my college and the Athens-Clarke County community. It is always great to see a friendly HOBY face succeeding and living out their visions.

I am thankful for the contributions that HOBY has made to my life. I make it my mission to attend a seminar every year to volunteer and give back to a program that has given so much to me. Each year I attend HOBY I am embraced with love and I leave being a better person each year. From an ambassador to a Jr. Staff Member to a Jr. Facilitator to hopefully, this year, a facilitator, HOBY continues to enrich my life and make me a better leader. I plan to give, lead, inspire, and grow until one day I am like the moose, the moose and no longer here.

HOBY Info:

Kroger Community Rewards Program

• If you have a Kroger Plus Card, send some dollars to HOBY through this program!
• Keep it up, all the funds ensure the best seminars possible!

Social Networking!!!

• Find us on Facebook: GA HOBY Alumni
• Follow us on Twitter: @HOBY_GEORGIA  
• Follow us on Instagram: HOBY_GEORGIA
• Follow us on Vine: Georgia HOBY
• Feel free to send quotes to lutzofun@gmail.com to be put onto the Twitter page
• 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%2fdefault.aspx
• Need ideas for Volunteering projects? Email lutzofun@gmail.com, check the HOBY website: hoby.org, and/or research into what your community needs!
• How is far has your Chain Reaction of Kindness reached?

This Blog

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

Georgia HOBY Newsletter:
Twenty-Sixth Edition, January 10, 2015

Featured Alumna: Annie Dempsey '14

Since I was little, I knew I had a different perspective on changing the world. But now, every time I talk about HOBY, I show it. I mean, how can you forget bonding and singing with people you met about 48 hours ago while they were attacking your car? 

Beginning high school, circumstances were a bit abnormal. While my friends went to football games and parties, I was running not only a business, but choosing to follow my passion. I became a part of a national non-profit organization called Miss Amazing Inc. The mission of Miss Amazing is to provide an opportunity for girls and young women with mental and physical disabilities to build confidence and self-esteem in a supportive environment. As the youngest state director in the nation at the time, a team of volunteers and I organized the 2013 Georgia Miss Amazing Pageant in Marietta, Georgia for girls and women with disabilities. It was a complete success story. I’ll never forget watching each girl grab her crown with pride and rejoice, “Mommy, I’m a princess!” I am currently organizing the third annual Georgia Miss Amazing Pageant, and wow, what a journey it’s been! Not only is Miss Amazing aiming to teach girls to have confidence, but we are truly redefining what beauty is. Women benefitting from Miss Amazing programs have the tools to become their own community leaders and to support their beliefs on the public stage. After all, they are strong, they are able, they are AMAZING.

How refreshing it was to be in a place where everyone around you shares the same vigor to change the world as you. HOBY changed my life. The energy at the seminar is actually palpable. Not only was the seminar itself the best weekend ever, but my passion for what I do grew stronger, and I am forever grateful for friends that will last a lifetime. I still laugh at my HOBY group text. Just last August, two of my absolute best HOBY friends and I traveled across the country to Omaha, Nebraska to volunteer at the National Miss Amazing Pageant. That’s what HOBY is all about. Not only do my new OUTSTANDING *HOBY cheer reference* friends support the organization I have built, but they whole-heartedly believed enough in its mission to help spread it to girls with disabilities far and wide.

As the 2015 Georgia Miss Amazing Pageant grows nearer, along with the 2015 Georgia HOBY Seminar, I am more excited than ever to continue living out my dream of assisting the realm of female empowerment in the community of those with disabilities. I cannot wait to see what is in store for all HOBY alumni (I know their futures are bright ones!) and for each of my Miss Amazing participants. I’ve placed myself in the epicenter of two of the most powerful movements sweeping the nation right now, Miss Amazing and HOBY. And I don’t think we are slowing down anytime soon! You do not just “forget” HOBY. It stays with you like a tradition you’ve practiced for years. Thank you HOBY, for allowing me to hone my leadership skills, and make some pretty AMAZING friends in the process. I certainly won’t be forgetting a single moment.

P.S. If you are interested in learning more about the national mission of Miss Amazing, please visit our website at www.missamazingpageant.com or contact me through Facebook!

HOBY Info:

Kroger Community Rewards Program

• If you have a Kroger Plus Card, send some dollars to HOBY through this program!
• Keep it up, all the funds ensure the best seminars possible!

Social Networking!!!

• Find us on Facebook: GA HOBY Alumni
• Follow us on Twitter: @HOBY_GEORGIA  
• Follow us on Instagram: HOBY_GEORGIA
• Follow us on Vine: Georgia HOBY
• Feel free to send quotes to lutzofun@gmail.com to be put onto the Twitter page
• 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%2fdefault.aspx
• Need ideas for Volunteering projects? Email lutzofun@gmail.com, check the HOBY website: hoby.org, and/or research into what your community needs!
•  How is far has your Chain Reaction of Kindness reached?

This Blog

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

Georgia HOBY Newsletter:
Twenty-Fifth Edition, December 24, 2014

Featured Alumnus: Blake Phillips '11

"HOBY is life!" That is my answer when people ask me "What is HOBY?" Of course after I say "HOBY is life!" and they laugh I proceed to tell them about the seminar and how HOBY continues to change lives year after year. I was nominated by my school to attend HOBY as an ambassador in 2011. My life changed that weekend. I came back home confident in ability to be a leader and make a difference. That is what HOBY is about: making a difference. The first step in making a difference in the life of another person is taking a step back and realizing that person is different from you. I believe that in order to make a difference and live a life that impacts the lives of others, one must not only acknowledge diversity, but also celebrate the diversity that defines us as individuals. HOBY has helped shape this philosophy of mine and has greatly affected the ways I perceived, accept, and respect those who are different from me. HOBY blends kids with varying backgrounds, religious beliefs, ethnicities, and sexualities and shows them that these differences do not equal divisions. HOBY builds friendships that last a lifetime. Several of my best friends are from HOBY. I talk to them literally everyday. These are the friends I talk to when I need encouragement or when they need someone to remind how outstanding they are! It may sound biased, but I believe HOBY provides the best friendships because these relationships are not built around convenience. My HOBY friends are spread all through out Georgia. These friendships require work and love and because of the struggle of distance the bonds grow stronger. I am forever thankful for HOBY and the amazing friends and opportunities I have been blessed with because of HOBY.

HOBY Info:

Kroger Community Rewards Program

• If you have a Kroger Plus Card, send some dollars to HOBY through this program!
• Keep it up, all the funds ensure the best seminars possible!

Social Networking!!!

• Find us on Facebook: GA HOBY Alumni
• Follow us on Twitter: @HOBY_GEORGIA  
• Follow us on Instagram: HOBY_GEORGIA
• Follow us on Vine: Georgia HOBY
• Feel free to send quotes to lutzofun@gmail.com to be put onto the Twitter page
• 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%2fdefault.aspx
• Need ideas for Volunteering projects? Email lutzofun@gmail.com, check the HOBY website: hoby.org, and/or research into what your community needs!
•  How is far has your Chain Reaction of Kindness reached?

This Blog

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

Georgia HOBY Newsletter:
Twenty-Fourth Edition, December 15, 2014

Featured Alumna: Amanda Murray, '04

We came for salvation, We came for family, We came for all that's good that's how we'll walk away.

We came to break the bad, We came to cheer the sad, We came to leave behind the world a better way.”

-T.A.B.

I was nominated by my high school to attend HOBY in the spring of ‘04. From the moment my car was attacked, I knew I was about the “drink some Kool-aid” if you will. My team leader was Tim Joyner, and the Chiefs in charge were Vicki, Rod & Corey! Being a Peacock, it didn’t take long for me to introduce myself and to bond with some of my very best friends to date, like Javier Johnson. I still thank my lucky stars for all the friends that I made at Georgia HOBY and WLC, and that we have stayed in touch creating a lasting bond! One thing to sum up what I learned that year was “Decide what to be, and go be it!” a theme that resonates throughout the program. 

Since my ambassador year, I graduated from Southland Academy, and went on to study Marketing at Georgia Southwestern State University. I worked as a Digital Media Advertising Rep for WALB-10, until last year when I decided to move to Atlanta after taking another sales job. Currently I am back in school for round two, pursuing a degree in nursing, hoping to eventually become a recruiter. I am involved in the Junior League, as well as various efforts to raise money for Multiple Sclerosis research. I was able to be a facilitator for WLC 2012 and it reignited my light and brought back so many OUTSTANDING memories from my 2 weeks in D.C. The speakers and sights that were heard and seen impact you far beyond your ambassador year. That’s right y’all adults gain so much from HOBY too! 

I don’t think there are enough words to fully describe my experiences with the HOBY Program. An array of

emotions, have come from the year I first began as an ambassador to today. My ambassador year, 2004, was filled with so many fond memories from Georgia’s A seminar to WLC in Washington D.C.! I have made lifelong friends, as well as have had some of the greatest experiences, being involved with the program. Even though my involvement has been far less over the past 3 years, one can never lose the light of HOBY. The things that I learned throughout the program and from my fellow HOBYers will stay with me forever! And It Spread…..

HOBY Info:

Kroger Community Rewards Program

• If you have a Kroger Plus Card, send some dollars to HOBY through this program!
• Keep it up, all the funds ensure the best seminars possible!

Social Networking!!!

• Find us on Facebook: GA HOBY Alumni
• Follow us on Twitter: @HOBY_GEORGIA  
• Follow us on Instagram: HOBY_GEORGIA
• Follow us on Vine: Georgia HOBY
• Feel free to send quotes to lutzofun@gmail.com to be put onto the Twitter page
• 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%2fdefault.aspx
• Need ideas for Volunteering projects? Email lutzofun@gmail.com, check the HOBY website: hoby.org, and/or research into what your community needs!
•  How is far has your Chain Reaction of Kindness reached?

This Blog

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

Georgia HOBY Newsletter:
Twenty-Third Edition, November 16, 2014

Featured Alumnus: Rance Morgan '11

My name is Rance Morgan, and I attended HOBY 3 years ago. And although the experience was awhile ago, the lessons I learned there stick with me to this day. Listening to the many different speakers’ advice on how to succeed gave me courage to pursue my dreams and excel academically. Although I only graduated high school in 2013 I am currently earning my bachelors degree in computer science at The University of Georgia with an associates degree, also in computer science, already under my belt. I was able to do this through a dual enrollment program at Middle Georgia College, something I wouldn’t have considered without the inspiration to succeed. The team-building exercises I took part in helped me in a number of ways. First, I was able to meet some amazing people who shared the same passion for the program as myself. Second, it provided me with essential leadership skills that I continue to use within my academic and social career. The skills I acquired at HOBY assist with my occasional group project in school and has also proven helpful in my fraternity. I was just recently elected as an officer having just been initiated last semester. Now although I can’t give all the credit of my success to HOBY and the wonderful people who ran the conference, it was definitely one of the better experiences of my life. I have no doubt that it played a pivotal role in my academic career and has turned out to be beneficial to my life in general.

HOBY Info:

Kroger Community Rewards Program

• If you have a Kroger Plus Card, send some dollars to HOBY through this program!
• Keep it up, all the funds ensure the best seminars possible!

Social Networking!!!

• Find us on Facebook: GA HOBY Alumni
• Follow us on Twitter: @HOBY_GEORGIA  
• Feel free to send quotes to lutzofun@gmail.com to be put onto the Twitter page
• 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%2fdefault.aspx
• Need ideas for Volunteering projects? Email lutzofun@gmail.com, check the HOBY website: hoby.org, and/or research into what your community needs!
•  How is far has your Chain Reaction of Kindness reached?

This Blog

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

Georgia HOBY Newsletter:
Twenty-Second Edition, October 18, 2014

Featured Alumna: Laura Heida '07

Hey all! I was an ambassador back in 2007, HOBY’s last year at Ft. Oglethorpe, and I had a heck of an experience. I’ll be honest, though, as much as my seminar rocked, my strongest, best, and most vivid HOBY memories are from my years on staff. Junior Staff was an incredibly rewarding experience, as it gave me an entirely new perspective on the seminar: behind the scenes! Preparation! Being a PART of keeping the energy up! Starting cheers! On the same line, directing operations for the 2012 seminar was an interesting experience. Learning what REALLY goes into making the seminar work is something that is overwhelming and wonderful. It let me appreciate all the work that so many people put into ensuring that HOBY is a success for the ambassadors and a beacon of light for our volunteers. It’s hard! It was a wonderful experience, it just wasn’t for me. Being a facilitator is my passion and my favorite experience to date. It was what I looked forward to as a junior staffer, and it’s the biggest reason I’ve come back year after year. That interpersonal relationship that you create with your group of students is unbelievable (yep, I’m a peacock). Being able to watch how this group of strangers grows, personally as leaders and as friends, is an irreplaceable experience. It is my favorite part of HOBY. I love seeing the lights on the faces of my kids when they realize that HOBY is a safe zone, somewhere that they can discuss anything and everything without being judged or ridiculed. It’s great afterwards, too, seeing the Facebook page blow up, hearing about alumni connecting after the seminar, and seeing pictures labeled “HOBY reunion!” There is so much to say for having people in your life who let you truly be who you are, and that is what HOBY is. It’s a family in and of itself, a support system that rolls 350+ deep, it’s a forum for discussion and exchanging ideas, and it’s a resource: a source of strength, inspiration, and encouragement. That’s why, this year, I’ve detoured from my beloved facilitator role to be one of your directors of recruitment. Every student deserves a shot at being part of this amazing family. HOBY has been one of the highlights of my life, and it is ALL in thanks to you, my lovely HOBY fam. So, thank you for being who you are, for doing what you do, and for all that you continue to be. I’ll close out with a mandatory recruitment plug: please reach out to your schools and make sure they have an ambassador this year! If anyone needs help or would like to help further, feel free to contact me (I’m on Facebook)! Again, thanks so much for everything, y’all. Continue being outstanding!

HOBY Info:

Kroger Community Rewards Program

• If you have a Kroger Plus Card, send some dollars to HOBY through this program!
• Keep it up, all the funds ensure the best seminars possible!

Social Networking!!!

• Find us on Facebook: GA HOBY Alumni
• Follow us on Twitter: @HOBY_GEORGIA  
• Feel free to send quotes to lutzofun@gmail.com to be put onto the Twitter page
• 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%2fdefault.aspx
• Need ideas for Volunteering projects? Email lutzofun@gmail.com, check the HOBY website: hoby.org, and/or research into what your community needs!
•  How is far has your Chain Reaction of Kindness reached?

This Blog

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