More than 160 high school sophomores participated in the 2009 seminar held in June at Central College.

Welcome to Iowa HOBY!

Our purpose is to teach you how to think, not what to think. Each year, Iowa HOBY hosts an annual leadership seminar designed to prepare our country's high school sophomores to become effective, ethical leaders in their home, schools, workplace and community. HOBY Ambassadors are selected from each of Iowa's public and private high schools each fall.

HOBY's vision is "To motivate and empower individuals to make a positive difference within our global society through understanding and action based on effective and compassionate leadership." Through a network of more than 4,000 volunteers nationwide, HOBY is able to provide lifelong leadership development opportunities that empower individuals to achieve their highest potential.

Iowa HOBY is celebrating more than 30 years of leadership seminars across the state and the accomplishments of more than 5,000 Iowa high school sophomores who have participated in the program since our first seminar in 1967. The 2009 Iowa HOBY Leadership Seminar will be held in June 2009.

For more information about the 2009 Iowa HOBY leadership seminar, including the Ambassador selection process, how to get involved as a volunteer, or to make a financial contribution, please contact Ryan Anderson, Leadership Seminar Chair, via email at ryananderson@iahoby.org.

"One of the best things that Hugh O'Brian Youth Leadership (HOBY) does is it labels every student who attends the conference a leader, whether they've ever considered themselves one before or not. Second thing it does is it allows sophomores, possibly for the first time in their lives, a chance to leave behind everyone's ideas of who they are. For that weekend...they're completely free to come up with their own definition of self...." James Van Der Beek, Actor and 1993 HOBY Alumnus