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Image of Hugh O'Brian

“I believe every person is created as a steward of [their] own destiny with great power for a specific purpose: to share with others, through service, a reverence for life in a spirit of love.”

– Hugh O'Brian, Founder

Our History

At the peak of his acting career, Hugh O’Brian journeyed to Lambaréné, Gabon to spend nine days with Dr. Albert Schweitzer, the 1952 Nobel Peace Prize winner. Dr. Schweitzer instilled in Hugh a simple belief: “The most important thing in education is to teach young people to think for themselves.” 

After returning to the United States in 1958, he founded Hugh O’Brian Youth Leadership (HOBY). The format was simple: bring a group of high school sophomores with leadership potential together with a group of distinguished leaders in business, education, and government and let the two interact and grow together in a university environment. These young leaders got a realistic look at what it takes to positively impact a community, better enabling them “to think for themselves.”

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HOBY inspires 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.

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Since 1981, HOBY New Hampshire has been serving youth across the state of New Hampshire through our annual leadership seminar, Community Leadership Workshops, alumni programs, and encouraging students to participate in a number of HOBY International programs. 

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Our mission is to inspire and develop our global community of youth and volunteers to a life dedicated to leadership, service and innovation.

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Our 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.

Image showing 49 Y-shaped HOBY logos over a silhouette of New Hampshire to show the distribution of schools represented at our seminar.

This year, 49 high schools from New Hampshire and Massachusetts were represented by 103 student ambassadors at our annual leadership seminar.

Our Core Values

Volunteerism is the heart and soul of our organization. We appreciate the myriad contributions of our volunteers and recognize the power of thank yous and of giving back. We seek to promote and encourage service among our stakeholders. We recognize and value the positive accomplishments that volunteers can achieve by working together. We believe that volunteers are positively impacted by our programs as much as the youth and communities we serve.

Excellence is the level that our program and business strives for. We encourage entrepreneurship and innovation in business, education, and social responsibility. We develop creative solutions to address challenges and to utilize opportunities. We believe that leadership skills can and should be continually improved and refined.

Integrity forms the foundation of our organization. We demand the highest level of ethics. We grow our organization based on interactions that promote mutual trust and respect with our stakeholders and partners. We strive to ensure the highest level
of organizational effectiveness by continually reviewing our programs and processes to improve quality and efficiency.

Community partnerships are what strengthen us. We recognize the importance of working with community organizations to strengthen our supportive network. We value the input we receive from our community partners and strive to work together cooperatively and constructively for the betterment of all.

Diversity is what we embrace. We seek out views that reflect all walks of life and reflect those views in our programs. We are sensitive to the special needs and diverse backgrounds of individuals. We give all individuals an equal opportunity to be heard and to benefit from our programs.

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