The Evaluation and Training Institute (ETI), one of the country's foremost evaluation organizations, recently completed the first ever evaluation of The Hugh O' Brian Youth Leadership Program, HOBY. ETI Vice President, Mary Kay Stout, stated, "HOBY is only the second evaluation among the 600 we have conducted in our 23 year history that shows such consisitently high approval ratings."

The result of the evaluation overwhelmingly validates the HOBY mission and approach to: Seek out, recognize and develop leadership potential, commencing with high school sophomores.

The goals of the seminar are to:

• Enhance critical thinking & collaborative skills.
• Create a sense of community among high school sophomores with leadership potential & empower them to take further leadership responsibility in their homes, school & communities.
• Enhance students' exposure to the American economic & political systems.
• Promote the responsibility and importance of volunteerism & participation in the community.

In their evaluation, ETI visited 10 HOBY seminars across the United States to collect both quantitative and qualitative date.  the evaluation focused on HOBY's impact on student Ambassadors and Volunteers, and was designed to establish baseline measures for use in tracking and assessing future program improvements.

Findings were as follows:
 

• 98% of HOBY Ambassadors said because of HOBY, they know why Volunteering is important.
• 94% of HOBY Ambassadors enjoyed hearing ideas and opinions that differed from their own.
• 97% of HOBY Volunteers reported strengthening their network of friends though HOBY.
• 99% of HOBY Ambassadors would recommend participation in HOBY to a friend.
• 80% of HOBY Ambassadors noted they had a better understanding of free enterprise, economic, and American political systems after attending a hoby seminar.
• 98% of Ambassadors said, "because of HOBY, they know what steps to be a better leader."
• 98% of Ambassadors believed they could make a difference in their high school.
• 99% of Ambassadors reported that HOBY encouraged them to think independently.
• 97% of Ambassadors want to be involved in next year's seminar.
• 94% of Volunteers believe that because of HOBY, they have stronger organizational leadership skills.
• 93% of Ambassadors stated that, as a result of HOBY, they had re-evaluated their life goals and objectives.
• 99.7% felt that volunteering with HOBY a positive experience.
• 90% of the Volunteers are already involved in community service outside of HOBY.
• 99% of Volunteers believe they can make a difference in their communities.
• 99% of Volunteers believe they have helped young people become better leaders.
• 98% of Ambassadors believe that one person can make a difference in the community.

The Evaluation found that HOBY encourages Ambassadors to set goals and that the responsibility for personal growth and leadership development is placed squarely on them.

HOBY Exposed Ambassadors to diverse viewpoints about important issues and gave them numerous opportunities to exercise their critical thinking skills.  Ambassadors posed questions to the speakers and recognized that there were differing viewpoints among fellow ambassadors.

The evaluation results showed that HOBY is more than fulfilling he goals it has set for its Leadership Seminars.  In fact, ETI states that the responses from both student and Ambassadors and Volunteers were so positive that they were "off the charts" in comparison with most of their other evaluations.

Like pebbles thrown into a stream that ripple out to touch all banks, HOBY alumni, who now number over 220,000 are making a difference everyday as leaders in their professions, their communities, and our society.