Senoia Optimist Club Celebrates HOBY Ambassadors for Leadership Excellence

At its September meeting, the Senoia Optimist Club welcomed students sponsored by the local club to serve as HOBY ambassadors. Parents were also welcomed to the special session.

The Optimists sponsored 3 sophomores, Thomas Bowen from East Coweta High School, and both Leo Jackson and Jenna Mollner from Northgate High School who attended HOBY this past June at Georgia College in Milledgeville, GA. They joined over 10,000 sophomores from across the country to attend these State Leadership Seminars.

The Senoia club also gave a scholarship to Daphne Thomas (ECHS), a 2022 HOBY alum, to attend the HOBY World Leadership Congress in July at Loyola University in Chicago.

The students attending the Optimist meeting all agreed that participating in HOBY was a “life changing experience.”

To date, the Senoia Optimists have sponsored 14 sophomore students from both East Coweta High School and Northgate High School to attend HOBY.

The Optimist Club of Senoia adopted HOBY as a mission in 2019. HOBY stands for Hugh O’Brian Youth. For those of us old enough to remember, Hugh O’Brian was a famous Hollywood actor in the 1950s and ’60s, most notably known for his character, Wyatt Earp. The HOBY mission is to inspire and prepare future young leaders for a life dedicated to leadership, service, and innovation. For over 5 decades, HOBY has empowered young people to dream big, make an impact and change the world. These weekend seminars are motivational, hands-on programs that include critical thinking, mentoring, panel discussions, goal setting, and project planning activities. Students are challenged to perform 100 hours of service within the 12 months following their seminar.

Through hope and positive vision, Optimists around the world bring out the best in youth, our communities, and ourselves. If you would like to be a part of this organization, feel free to attend its upcoming meeting on Thursday, October 5th, at 6:00 PM at the Senoia Area Historical Society located at 6 Couch Street in Senoia. You can also submit an inquiry on the club’s Facebook page (“Senoia Optimist Club”) or email the club at [email protected].