"Participants come each September and share their experiences with us. We have been so pleased with the leadership skills and the confidence these students gain at your academy!"  ~Lisa Stoller, President, Goddard Women's Club

"Aside from [helping] others, HOBY has taught us to help ourselves.  It brought the best of everyone to the surface, and it's taught us what to do with our talents."  ~Ambassador from St. Paul

I learned to embrace all of my qualities-good and bad. I met some wonderful people who taught me that I can be a change and I can accomplish anything. HOBY has helped me grow and exand my mind into places that I hope will only grow from here. Thank you HOBY. ~Ambassador

Mission
To inspire and develop our global community of youth and volunteers to a life dedicated to leadership, service, and innovation.

Core Values
Volunteerism - The heart and soul of our organization. We recognize and value what volunteers can achieve by working together. We believe our programs positively impact our volunteer leadership who are the heart of our programs as much as the youth and communities we serve.

Integrity – Forms the foundation of our organization. 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

Excellence - We strive to continually raise our programs to new levels of excellence. 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.

Diversity – We value and embrace diversity. 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, our students, volunteers and our communities. We give all individuals an equal opportunity to be heard and to benefit from our programs.

Community Partnership – We value community partnerships. We recognize the importance of working with community organizations to strengthen our programs by helping us provide all young people the opportunity to participate in and benefit from a HOBY program. We value the input we receive from our community partners and strive to work together cooperatively and constructively for the betterment of all.

Core Leadership Skills
Much of the work at HOBY involves young people exploring and identifying their unique leadership skills. Every student is different, and there is no attempt to impart a predefined set of attributes onto HOBY participants. We stress self-knowledge, uniqueness, and authenticity, not conformity. Students learn to mobilize their own unique traits and are exposed to particular leadership principles that they can explore and incorporate in a fashion that is true to their own personality.