Every year since 2014 when I was an ambassador at HOBY PA-East and the World Leadership Congress, I've returned to the organization as a volunteer. Putting on a HOBY seminar is truly a feat. It takes a full year of planning to put on one weekend-long seminar and even longer to plan the WLC, a week-long gathering for over 400 students from across the globe.
The HOBY experience is something unique. If you know, you know. There isn't a need to explain. But what is it like being on the other side? What's it like to come back again and again? After volunteering at five seminars, I felt like it was time to spill the beans.
I asked people from all over the country to speak the truth about volunteering for HOBY. Here's what they had to say:
1. The HOBY Hangover is real.
When you go to HOBY, you're out of office, off the grid, incognito, whatever you want to call it. You have a very limited amount of time to very literally change the lives of high school sophomores, so the rest of the world gets put on hold.
But then you have to come back. And you jump headfirst into "normal" life after being cut off from the world. Suddenly, you have more concerns than, "Did I lose an ambassador?" Nope. It's back to adulting.
2. Don't expect to sleep.
When you're an ambassador, things just happen. Programming events are set up. T-shirts are washed. Food magically appears. Buses are there to pick you up. Who makes that happen? Your volunteer staff. And when do they do it? After bed checks.
While you're snug as a bug in a rug after your long day, HOBY staff is up late prepping for the next day's activities. Don't ask us how we have the energy to yell and cheer and act like we got 12 hours of sleep each night. We just channel the HOBY magic.
But then again, don't try to contact us in the first 48 hours after the seminar. We will absolutely be asleep.
3. Your voice WILL be gone.
Volunteers have to set the example and be the hype from the second you arrive in the hopes that you'll catch on. You ask us to shake our booties every five seconds.We think everything is outstanding. We tell you that you can't ride in our little red wagons. Whether it's three days or seven, we have to keep the hype train going. And if that means sacrificing our voices, we are more than happy to do so.
4. Swag. Out.
Some of us go so hard that we get pulled over by TSA because they don't understand why we have so much candy in our bags and why all of our clothes are one color. We love leis, beads, bandanas, and tutus and we'll make sure that we have enough to share with every single one of our ambassadors.
Bonus points if you have a different hat for every day or a bright yellow suit to wear for the gala.
5. It isn't our seminar or our ambassador year.
No HOBY seminar is the same. Things will change from year to year. People come and go. Some ambassadors come back as staff, some don't. But we are here for you. We had our time to learn and grow. Not it's our turn to give that back to you.
6. We LOVE a flatsheet.
When's the bathroom break? What time is dinner? Is 4:23 an appropriate time to introduce a speaker? We have 5 minutes to move 400 people across campus while factor in the 90 seconds it takes for the light to change? Got it.
Flatsheet or Bible? You decide.
7. We don't just change you. You change us.
The weekend doesn't just change the student, it also helps the volunteers find something within themselves. It's amazing every year to hear what the ambassadors have to say and understand how they see the world. Ambassadors give us the renewed hope that the world is in safe hands, even if what we see in the news terrifies us.
8. The facilitators are the faces you see, but there are so many people behind the scenes that you don't.
There are people that plan every second of the seminar, down to the minute. That's your programming team. There are people that make sure you move from space to space and that every little detail is taken care of, down to making sure you safely cross the street. That's your operations team. There are people who do things without asking, "Why?" because they know the answer will always be, "the ambassadors." That's your alumni team. You can't always see them, but I promise they're there.
We put our all into HOBY because we love what we do. We love watching the ambassadors "get it." We love seeing the changes that happen, the friendships that form, and the way ambassadors are empowered to lead and excel. And every single person is proud to play just a small role in that.
9. We want to know, "What are you going to do with this?"
Stay in touch. Shoot us a text or a DM if you need anything. The HOBY experience doesn't stop when the seminar does. Life with HOBY is a very real thing, and if you're willing to have us, we would love to be a part of it.
Some people stay with HOBY just their ambassador year. Some stay for 20. Some become seminar chairs. Some work with alumni. But all of those people are a vital part of the HOBY experience.
The HOBY network is global for a reason. Someone out there has an idea of what they're going to do with this, and all of us are ready on the sidelines waiting to help you achieve your full potential.
