Georgia HOBY Newsletter:
Nineteenth Edition, August 17, 2014

Featured Alumni: 

Jeremy Lutz and Joey Mitchell

(The GAHOBY Ambassadors at WLC 2014)

Jeremy Lutz
Pope High School

 AHHHHHHHHHHH! Well that’s the enthusiasm one receives at HOBY. I know that singing “I’m wide awake alert enthusiastic” at 6:30 in the morning with only 4 hours of sleep wakes me up! I got the chance to go to WLC at Chicago, Illinois July 19^th – July 26^th, 2014. WLC 2014’s HOBY Daddy, Russ Tanguay, said on our first night the time and date "July 19, 2014. 8:34 pm central" and that in a week we would be wishing to be right back where we were at that very moment with all other 426 of us.  This was the most impactful experience of my life. What I realized from this experience is... (HOBY hugs are amazing!) and that there are people just like me to strive for the same goals. I am going to quote myself (How cool is that??) because it truly highlights what HOBY friendships mean to me, “At my high school, I really don’t have any true friends; however when I came to HOBY, these were the people I’ve been looking for my entire life!” This experience taught me to help the community and world through my leadership! I have since started a movement called Positive Charge that works on raising positivity and influencing your own leadership skills. I was lucky enough to present my idea at the conference and be in the top 35 ideas out of 426 ideas. I will work with teens around my community, city, state, country, and world to help create positive change in this world! This was and will be THE BEST WEEK OF MY LIFE! Words do not express the joy of finding my inner leader with 426 teens from around the WORLD. I got to learn the culture from other 16 other countries! How cool is that??? ! Hey everyone who is reading this,” What do you think of what HOBY has done for your life? OUTSTANDING! O-U-T-S-T-A-N-D-I-N-G OUT-OUT-OUTSTANDING! O-U-T-S-T-A-N-D-I-N-G OUT-OUT-OUTSTANDING! OHHH YEAA! (that was the WLC cheer)! The two quotes below I now follow every day of my life: “What are you going to do with this” ~ Albert Schweitzer. “It starts here” ~ WLC 2014!

Joey Mitchell
Robert Toombs Christian Academy

This July, I was given the great pleasure of attending the HOBY World Leadership Congress in Chicago, Illinois. Words cannot portray the amazing experience that the WLC truly is. From insightful and enlightening panels of key figures in modern to society to simply maintaining the large Humboldt Park in Chicago, I experienced thought-provoking and life-changing events, making memories all the way. I made friends that I will cherish for years, people that have inspired me to become a better individual. I was given opportunities to change the world through massive service projects, along with the means to start my own projects locally. Doors have opened not just for me but for the world, all tracing back to the WLC. I first attended the GA HOBY in May at Berry College. After that short weekend which gave me the bait, I was hooked and ready to pursue the WLC. To anyone who is skeptical or indecisive as to whether or not the WLC is for you, I say one thing: go for it. I did, and it was one of my most cherished decisions. Like most who attend HOBY, I had the feeling of ‘Why am I here? I don’t think I’ll fit in. This is silly and I don’t really want to go,’ but my mind was quickly changed. Just in the airport, I met people from Massachusetts, Arkansas, Montana, New York, Taiwan, and even South Korea. I was blown away simply by how welcoming my peers were, simply because we were brothers and sisters in HOBY. That week, the people I met were ones I will remember forever. In my group alone, we had people anywhere form the United Kingdom to Hong Kong! It was a culture shock, and we shared many laughs at each individual’s mannerisms and nuances. I remain in-touch with my fellow group mates to this day, sometimes even waiting until three in the morning to message my friend Evelyn from Taiwan. I will cherish my experience for many years, thanking HOBY for bettering me both now and in the future! Go, enjoy your own personal, life-changing HOBY World Leadership Congress! Also, I sincerely apologize to Ben Lutz for this reflection being late. He kept with me and I delivered! I’m sure all of his efforts and services to the GA HOBY community help sevenfold, and everyone is thankful for him.

All of the WLC 2014 attendees (ambassadors and staff) 

 

Jeremy and Joey having a blast and representing Georgia!

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!

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:
Eighteenth Edition, June 23, 2014

Featured Alumni: 2014 Alumni

Haley Hubbard 

North Forsyth High School

My favorite HOBY memory is when we did the teamscapes. My group, district one (go gold!), blended so well from the beginning and aced all of the activities. The teamscapes really brought us together as a group and showed us how to cooperate and work together. It was a good bonding experience that made it easier to open up for the rest of the weekend.

Emily Bell 

Pope High School

To sum up HOBY in just one memory is impossible. The whole weekend was beyond everything I could have ever expected. From the crazy cheers to the unbreakable new friendships, each moment at HOBY changed me for the better. There was, however, one experience that tied the whole weekend together. As we all gathered in a big huddle, the facilitators formed a circle around us and formally introduced our last activity of the weekend, reflections. Anyone who wanted to speak got the change to stand up and speak about the experiences they had, emotions they felt, or even friendships they created throughout the weekend. The rawness and vulnerability each person expressed was overwhelming, and suddenly, every single person in the room became my family. Never would I have thought I would be crying with over 200 other ambassadors I had met less than 48 hours ago, but the stories each person shared brought tears to my eyes. Whether the story was one of struggle or not, HOBY truly did touch every person in that room, and through reflections, we all could finally see that clearly. And while I enjoyed every single minute I spent at Berry college, Reflections will stay with me as one of the most life-changing experiances I have ever had.

Anna Tumlin

Mount Zion High School

Picking one memory from HOBY as my favorite is probably the hardest thing I've ever been asked to do. However, if I needed to choose, I would say my favorite memory would be doing the tower activity. I've always been someone who didn't put my ideas out there unless I was sure they were right, because I've always feared being wrong. The tower activity taught me that some of my most genius ideas have been the ones I was too scared to share.

Haley Keesler 

Dade County High School

It is astonishing that it is so hard for me to choose a favorite memory from only a weekend seminar. Despite that though, something I will never forget and I am truly thankful for was reflections. To see kids that are usually reserved to share deeply personal stories, failures, and accomplishments with a few tears too was incredible. That is what lit my fire. It let me know I was not alone in my experiences and that I can move on from those and help others. I am humbled from those around me that took part in HOBY 2014.

Haley Hynes 

Marion County High School

My favorite HOBY memory will always be the way all of the ambassadors connected with each other. All 200+ of us let our guards down around each other and simply became who we actually are. It was amazing that I could talk to others without feeling judged my how I look, what clothes I wear, etc. I can not say the same thing for my High School. I learned what really matters is our qualities on the inside. I actually talked and introduced myself at HOBY instead of staying quiet, like at school. My group was also outstanding! *clapclapclap* HUH!!!!! DISTRICT 12 WOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!! I feel closer to them than many of other kids my age. I would like to thank all of the new HOBY Alumni for making me feel welcome to open up and also, for being the first group of kids my age since 6th grade that weren't jerks. The new me can change the world, unlike the old me who was afraid to raise her hand in class. To everyone at HOBY thank you from the bottom of my heart! And I hope to see you guys again next year!

Julianna Kearney 

McIntosh High School

I walked onto the Berry campus extremely nervous. People were running towards my dad's car and yelling at 7 in the morning. What? But as the weekend went on, I became less and less nervous. Doing the cheers wasn't embarrassing anymore. In fact, I look forward to doing the cheers. I wasn't nervous to talk to the people around me. HOBY allowed me to become more confident in myself and my leadership abilities. I wasn't the girl who walked on the Berry campus about to cry from being nervous anymore. I became a leader who walked off the Berry camp ready to change the world. 

Andrew Freeman

Winder-Barrow High School

The groups were tasked with building a tower.  I was a builder, no words were to leave my mouth, and I was to follow orders.  The challenge was not my restriction on speech, but my desire for a plan, which was changing constantly.  This pushed me, and my awesome group leader, Megan Franken, knew it would.  This was one of multiple challenges I, and my district, faced over the weekend.  Megan knew how to put us in a position that would force us to think differently, and I cannot thank her enough for that.  She is one of the biggest reasons HOBY changed my life, as well as why I am out to make difference, why I want to be the spark, and catch fire.

Ellie Williams
Lagrange Academy

Seeing the words "my favorite HOBY memory" brings 1,000 faces, laughs, games, cheers, activities, and some of the most amazing people I have ever met into my mind, all at once. I miss everything about HOBY, but one activity in particular really stood out to me. WHAT BIRD ARE YOU?! That is the question! All of the groups went into a big room and sat down to fill out these personality tests. Once everybody was assigned to a bird, somebody from each group would stand up and read a bit of the synopsis for their bird. The possible outcomes consisted of peacocks, doves, eagles, and owls. I, myself am a peacock! To sum up each bird type, peacocks are usually outgoing and opinionated. They usually are not too shy. Doves are the ones that you would talk to about the deep stuff because they listen!! They are usually very sweet and to themselves. Eagles were said to be sort of the take charge kind of people, who knew what they wanted and how they wanted it done, which is not always a bad thing. Finally, owls were thought to be the more thoughtful people, who may have the best idea, but wouldn't be as abrupt as an eagle. I am sorry if I got some of these wrong guys, this is just what I remember about each one! The whole experience was so funny because just like our team leader, Payne, said to us, each group would act like their bird! When the doves read, it was kind of quiet and most of them did not want to do it. The owls were a bit less shy, but most of them would let somebody else read if they wanted to. The eagles were just hilarious! They cut each other off and acted as if it were a death battle. Finally, when it was time for the peacocks to read, we all stood as one and screamed the paragraphs at the top of our lungs, together. I thought this exercise was so fun and hilarious, and it was good to know which bird you were. It was a good conversation starter, and also good for different activities. Like when Payne made Montana, Larry, and me be the builders for the bridge because he KNEW we were the ones that would want to tell everyone else our ideas. Shoutout to district 15!!! I absolutely loved HOBY, and even while writing this I was smiling thinking about it all. I will never forget!

Fajr Malika DeLane 

Clarke Central High School
Words cannot express what I gained from this experience! I never thought one weekend could actually transform someone's life, but it truly can. The quote on our HOBY shirts read, "At some point, in everyone's life our inner fire goes out. It is then burst into flame by an encounter with another human being." That quote by Albert Schweitzer truly manifested to every leader that was there and best summarizes the intent of the conference, to get student leaders recharged to lead even greater in their respective communities. While there,  the one most memorable moment for me was when I recited a self-written poem that I cherished dearly, entitled "Who Am I." In that experience I learned even more about myself, and was so pleased that everyone in the crowd loved it! I am truly grateful to have experienced such a blessed event and I am so proud to say I am a 2014 HOBY Alumni!

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!

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:
Seventeenth Edition, May 4, 2014

Featured Alumna: Vicki Salzman '93

My name is Vicki Salzman and my ambassador year was 1993 in Central Florida.  At that point in my life I had lost both my parents and to say my life was a bit turbulent would be an understatement.   HOBY, like we so often hear, made a huge impact on me in those 3 days and I am forever grateful.   From that weekend, and from the week I was able to spend at WLC, I learned so much about the fortitude within me and the beauty of the diversity around me.   I think it lit a spark of service and wonder that wasn’t there before.   More than 20 years later, I am still drawn to HOBY weekend, cherish the many HOBY friendships I have collected over the years and look forward to the years my children can go.   HOBY truly is an OUTSTANDING part of my life.

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:
Sixteenth Edition, April 9, 2014

Featured Alumna: Adetinpo Thomas '06

My name is Adetinpo Thomas, my ambassador year was 2006 and I have been blessed to have had HOBY in my life for the last eight years. I have been a member of the Jr Staff, a Junior Facilitator, a Senior Facilitator and I now play the role of Master of Ceremonies. Let me begin by saying that GA HOBY has changed my life,  and almost every enjoyable experience I have subsequently had, can be attributed in some small way to my initial time at HOBY.The experience that really put everything into perspective for me was the year I had my own group, the Red Lasers (YOU KNOW!) from GA HOBY 2012. All weekend my group and I tried to convince Clint Godwin, one of my OUTSTANDING ambassadors, to perform for the variety show and every time he refused, granted he didn’t exactly identify as a peacock but we believed in him. The night was almost over before Clint decided he was going to perform after all. He got up in front of over 200 ambassadors and sang “Use Somebody” by Kings of Leon and without missing a beat when it came time for the chorus everyone in the audience sang along as they held up their outstanding “O” in solidarity. Almost two years ago and everytime I hear that song, I hear Clint and all of GA HOBY 2012 singing along. Even thinking of it now brings a smile to my face because I remember seeing the uncertainty on his face as he began and as he concluded watching him fight back a smile. That is my favorite experience because it manifested everything that HOBY is supposed to represent. Leadership in an individual and in a group, a strong and supportive ensemble and of course memories to last a lifetime.

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:
Fifteenth Edition, March 22, 2014 

Featured Alumnus: John T. D. Murphy '07

My name is John T.D. Murphy. I was an HOBY ambassador from Carrollton High School in 2007. One trip around the merry-go-round wasn’t nearly enough for me, and this year will be my 8th Georgia HOBY experience! In those years, I started out as a junior staffer and worked my way up to be a facilitator with my own group of amazing ambassadors to work with every year. My HOBY experience was hugely influential in my life. The spirit of ingenuity, confidence, leadership, and the simple idea that we don’t need to wait and “grow-up” to lead, and to follow our dreams changed my outlook as a teen. Soon after my ambassador year at HOBY, I convinced my school and family to let me complete part of my high school degree by studying abroad. I spent most of my junior year at the Istituto d’Arte Paolo Toschi, an intensive fine arts school in Parma, Italy. I embraced art not only as my personal passion, but as my professional and career goal. I went on to study at the Lamar Dodd School of Art at The University of Georgia and graduated in 2013.  Since then I have been living and working as an artist in New York City, selling work to private institutions and collections such as the Sir Elton John Collection. Currently, I specialize in experimental and antique photography. A large part of my work is “large format” photography (That is the old type of photography where the camera looks like an accordion and where the photographer is under a black sheet), and I have also recently made a body of work consisting of contemporary pinhole photographs (pinhole cameras are cameras that you have to build yourself and which do not have any lens, just a very small opening for light). This year I’m excited to make the trip back down to Georgia, teach some junior staff how to REALLY cheer, and be inspired yet again by the amazing young leaders we are given the privilege of working with.

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