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Lowndes Academy has selected Charli Meadows and Grant Casey to represent the school as student ambassadors at the Hugh O’Brian Youth Leadership Conference (HOBY) hosted by Troy University May 24-26.

Headmaster Barry Mohun said that the students chosen to attend the conference were selected based on materials submitted and judged by teachers.

“It’s [HOBY] a leadership conference down at Troy; it’s a really big honor and it’s a good thing,” Mohun said. “The ones that are interested, they have to write an essay, and then the teachers will go and select which students to send.”

The nonprofit organization was founded by former U.S. Marine and actor Hugh O’Brian in 1958 with a mission to inspire a global community of youth and volunteers to a life of leadership, service, and innovation. Each spring, more than 10,000 high school sophomores like Lockhart participate in one of more than 70 leadership seminars to develop their leadership skills and learn how to become effective, ethical leaders in their homes, schools, workplaces, and communities.

Lowndes Academy guidance counselor Amy Reeves said that Meadows and Casey were selected to attend the conference because of their curricular and extracurricular accolades, and that she expects the students to be excellent representatives of the school.

“They’re both really well rounded students,” Reeves said. “They’re both involved with SGA, Beta Club, National Honor Society, they’re involved in extracurricular activities, they play sports, and they’re leaders in their class.”

Reeves also noted that both of these students were also selected for the ALFA Youth Leadership.

According to Reeves, the conference focuses on students who employ leadership qualities, and that students who are selected to attend will have the opportunity to meet with other students from across the state who have those same qualities. At the conference, students will attend a workshop to learn how to enhance the abilities they currently have, and learn how to become better leaders.