Leading the way

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By SHAIYLA HAKEEM

shakeem@vindy.com

What better way to acknowledge superior high school students than to nominate them for the Hugh O’Brian Youth (HOBY) program.

Sophomores Mitchell Dinopoulos and runner-up Kaitlin Poland will attend the HOBY leadership seminar in June. Both were nominated for HOBY because they possess the potential to become great leaders.

Founded by Hugh O’Brian, HOBY is an international program that has been going strong since 1958. It is set in place to take high school students and enhance their critical thinking ability and uncover strengths and weakness in their own personal leadership style.

HOBY is used as a means to encourage leadership and to expose students to activities that focus on strengthening leadership qualities. The seminar that Dinopoulos and Poland are attending will take place on the campus of Mount Union College and will be a three-day event.

Poland is part of the high school basketball and track and field teams. Since she loves to meet new people, she really looks forward to meeting students from other schools and exchanging personal T-shirts.

“There is this a fun activity where you get to bring in T-shirts and trade with students for their shirts,” Poland said. “I like T-shirts and I can’t wait!”

Dinopoulos says that he is honored to have been chosen to attend the HOBY seminar. He has played basketball, tennis and is currently a part of the school’s leadership club.

His future plans include owning his own business, so he is looking forward to learning about leadership and the essentials needed for a great leader.

“I want to learn a lot about being a leader because I want to be my own boss when I become an adult,” Dinopoulos said. “I want to learn how to lead because I plan to be a leader.”

Dinopoulos and Poland are very excited about traveling to Mount Union this summer.

They both want to make the most of the seminar and gain as many leadership skills as they can.