GET TO KNOW US
MISSION
To inspire and develop our global community of youth and volunteers to a life dedicated to leadership, service and innovation.
VISION & VALUES
For over five decades, Hugh O’Brian Youth Leadership (HOBY) has inspired young people to make a difference and become catalysts for positive change in their home, school, workplace, and community. As America’s foremost youth leadership organization, HOBY has a long and impressive history of successfully motivating youth and volunteers to outstanding leadership. HOBY aims to inspire and develop our global community of youth & volunteers to a life dedicated to leadership, service, and innovation.
OUR TEAM
All our programs are organized, staffed, and facilitated by volunteers, including our executive and planning committee. If you are interested in joining our team, please contact Charlynn Malcom at leadership@montanahoby.org.
OUR FOUNDER
Motion picture and television star Hugh O’Brian mastered his craft across the entire spectrum of show business. But with all his success, he never lost sight of his civic and philanthropic responsibilities that his chosen field offers to those who choose to use their popularity to motivate others for a worthy cause. He reinvested his good fortune in many ways to help others, working tirelessly to develop projects to benefit young people.
Hugh O’Brian Youth Leadership, organized in 1958 originally to seek out, recognize, and develop leadership potential in high school sophomores. In 1964, he set up the Hugh O’Brian Acting Awards at UCLA, designed to bring recognition to the outstanding young actors and actresses at the University, which was held annually for 25 years.
FREEDOM TO CHOOSE
Unfortunately, a very small number of our young people seem to attract most of the news. They are in the public eye because they have stolen cars, vandalized schools, created disturbances – in some way rebelled against society. These headline-makers represent only a small part of our teenage population. It is a fact that 98.7 percent of our young people are law-abiding, constructive citizens. There is too much focus on the negative. It is time we accent the positive – pat the good guys and gals on the back – let them know there are rewards for being responsible members of the community.
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I do NOT believe we are all born equal – CREATED equal in the eyes of God, YES – but physical and emotional differences, parental guidance, varying environments, being in the right place at the right time, all play a role in enhancing or limiting an individual’s development. But I DO believe every man and woman, if given the opportunity and encouragement to recognize his or her own potential, regardless of background has the Freedom To Choose in our world. Will an individual be a taker or a giver in life? Will that person be satisfied merely to exist, or seek a meaningful purpose? Will he or she dare to dream the impossible dream?
I believe every person is created as the steward of his or her own destiny with great power for a specific purpose to share with others, through service, a reverence for life in a spirit of love.
