Torrance, CA (June 30, 2016): Seven outstanding BMHS sophomores just returned from the Hugh O’Brian Youth Leadership seminar for the LA region (HOBY LA) at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona. The annual seminar, which strives to educate and inspire leadership in teenagers, hosted over 150 sophomores on the Pomona campus for a 3 days of workshops and motivational speakers, as well as social and service-based activities.
Chosen for their leadership in extra-curricular clubs and organizations as well as the classroom, the Bishop Montgomery students: Nick Fraley, Angela Li, Maggie Mao, Nicole Marafino, Kevin O’Donnell, Markus Raad, and Carolyn Vaimoso, represented the “fourth generation” of Bishop attendees. In addition, HOBY LA alumni Tommy Rocca ’16, James Serrano ’16, and Alex Rodriguez ’15 volunteered as Junior Staff members / Day Volunteers, and Ms. Milana McDermott, Bishop’s Dean of Student Life, served as one of the seminar’s facilitators.
The seven sophomore attendees all agreed that HOBY was a life-changing experience. Marafino, a leader in Bishop’s soccer program, had never attended a leadership camp before, but say she enjoyed every moment. “It was absolutely amazing,” she shares, adding that through the activities and speakers’ presentations, she learned “how to be a better leader anywhere, because, all around you, there are always opportunities to lead.”
Marafino’s new understanding of what it means to be a leader echoes what most of the attendees also gained from the seminar: “They stressed that if you want to make a difference, you have to get up and do something. You can’t sit back and wait for it to happen. You have start it.” This insight inspired Marafino and her classmate Carolyn Vaimoso to seek out an opportunity at the seminar that they could bring back to Bishop. “During one of the lunch periods, we had the chance to meet with representatives from an organization of our choice, and Carolyn and I went to the Make-A-Wish table,” explains Marafino. The Make-A-Wish representative explained how students could lead a campaign at their own schools to help fund a child’s wish. “I looked at Carolyn,” recalls Marafino, “and said, ‘Let’s do this at Bishop.’”
Since their return, Marafino and Vaimoso have been brainstorming ideas of how to begin and execute their Make-A-Wish plan in the Bishop community, while scheduling meetings with the Make-A-Wish organization to learn more about how to plan and launch a successful campaign. Using their knowledge and passion from the HOBY experience, the girls plan to meet with BMHS administration, solicit student involvement, and launch a campaign that will ultimately fund one child’s special wish in the next year. “That’s what I learned [at HOBY],” says Marafino emphatically, “that what I really want to do is make a change.”