The seminar will take place at SUNY Albany: 1400 Washington Ave Albany, NY 12222

Seminar participants may register any time after 7:30 a.m. but before 8:35 a.m. on Friday, June 6th, 2025. The seminar will begin with Ambassador Orientation on June 6th at 9am and conclude with Closing Ceremonies on June 8th at 1pm.. You must be present for the entire seminar, including overnight.

We will be allowing ambassadors to check-in Thursday evening. We hope that this will ease the burden of the early Friday morning check in for families. While there will not be any programming Thursday evening, students will be supervised and be able to stay in dorm rooms as they will throughout the weekend, and breakfast Friday morning will be provided. If you plan to be dropped off Thursday evening, please indicate so on the Formstack materials.

You are responsible for your transportation to and from the seminar. Please include all details of your itinerary on the enclosed Participant Confirmation Form. If you get lost on the way to the seminar, please call (518) 219-8259.

Please use the main entrance off Washington Avenue and follow the directional signs. More detailed information will follow closer to the seminar. A HOBY volunteer committee member will greet you and check you in.

During your HOBY Leadership Seminar, many dynamic leaders—all volunteers from the fields of business, education, government, and other professions—will address aspects of our changing world and the challenges future leaders will confront. The program will not promote any specific political party, religion, or way of thinking; but is designed to develop critical thinking skills by actively involving participants in discussions and informal debate. During the seminar, and after being equipped with the tools necessary, you will be asked to undertake a community service project (or projects) within your own community involving at least 100 hours of service during the year following your seminar. The purpose is to make a difference in your school, community, place of worship, or any other environment where you see a need.

Participants will be assigned to dorm room suites with two participants per room and several rooms to a suite. Toiletries and linens will NOT be provided, so please make sure you bring those items. Everyone will receive nutritious breakfasts, lunches, and dinners. beginning with lunch on Friday (or breakfast on Friday morning for those checking in Thursday night). On the Medical History Records Form, please indicate any special dietary considerations, including vegetarianism, and we will do our best to accommodate you. Bathrooms will be shared in a suite style.

Please provide information about your medication in the Health and Safety section. Make sure to read and comply with the Policy for Use of Medication During a HOBY Event.

Parents, friends, and family members are discouraged from calling students during the seminar due to the disruption caused to panels and activities. In case of emergency, your parent(s) or guardian may call 518-219-8259. The seminar will be chaperoned by qualified adults who will be staying at the facility 24 hours a day.

Dress is casual throughout the weekend, with our closing ceremony on Sunday. Comfortable walking shoes are a must, and FLIP FLOPS ARE NOT PERMITTED. Open-toed shoes and high-heels are highly discouraged throughout the weekend. Please consider bringing an extra set of casual shoes. At registration, you will be provided with a HOBY t-shirt that must be worn all day on Friday. We will be completing a community service project on Saturday that could potentially be messy, so plan accordingly and dress appropriately. You may wish to bring an extra change of clothes. Saturday is also “COLOR” day, and you should plan to dress in the color of the group to which you have been assigned. (A staff member will contact you a week or two before the seminar with your color and group assignments). On Sunday we would ask that you dress as you would for a school awards ceremony, bearing in mind that we will still be doing considerable walking.

You will be contacted before the seminar by a HOBY volunteer assigned to work with your group. They will be able to tell you the color of your group as well as answer any last-minute questions you may have.

If circumstances arise that prevent you from attending the entire seminar, including overnight, we would like to give another student the opportunity to attend. Please notify the HOBY contact at your school, and follow up with an email to Chris Urban at operations@hobynye.org.

Your school, family, or another group has paid a Registration Fee and will provide transportation to and from the seminar. All costs for meals, lodging and training materials have been generously provided by sponsors throughout our state, including businesses, foundations, individuals, and service organizations wishing to support leadership education.

Additional questions or concerns should be directed to Chris Urban, 518-219-8259 ext. 103 or operations@hobynye.org.

With your parent or guardian, carefully review, complete and sign the forms in this set.

This year’s HOBY New York East seminar will be held at SUNY Albany in Albany, NY from Friday June 6th to Sunday, June 8th, 2025 While the schedule of events is not finalized, students should expect to check-in between 7:30 and 8:30 am on Friday. Our program will conclude on Sunday afternoon. Finalized check-in and check-out times will be provided to registered students in the Spring. Students are expected to be present for the entirety of the seminar, including overnights. All students reside within the residence halls on SUNY Albany’s campus.

Review your school’s copy of the HOBY Registration Kit Start your selection process to find an outstanding sophomore with leadership potential! Each school has a different way of selecting their students to attend, whether it is through essay writing contests, or by appointment through school administration. However, we try to ensure that our seminar is as inclusive as possible, which may mean that your ambassador may not necessarily represent the “popular” or most “academically-advanced” student. If there is little interest from the students, your teachers, faculty, and staff may have some outstanding students in mind to send. If you need more suggestions on how to select or recruit a student, feel free to email to registration@hobynye.org and we will be happy to help! Have your applicants fill out the Registration Info Sheet Once your school has chosen the student who will be attending the seminar, log on to HOBY’s registration website. You will need your School ID to sign in. If you do not know your School ID, please email registration@hobynye.org Please ensure that the email contact information for both the STUDENT and PARENT(S) are filled out completely and accurately. This is how we will continue to communicate with our registered students! Please do not use school email addresses for the students as most of these addresses cannot accept emails from outside of the school district. Please remember to register your alternate student as well! This can be done by repeating the step above. If your school is sending additional students, you will register them after you register your primary student. Lastly, please pay the registration fee! You can do this directly when you register your attendees or you may print an invoice. A confirmation email will be sent to you and the student(s) upon receiving payment. If the registration fee will not be paid by the school, please provide further payment information to those responsible for making this payment. Only the school has access to the HOBY registration website. Please ensure that a copy of the invoice is provided to whoever is responsible for paying the fees to any additional students you may choose to register.

All registrations and payments submitted prior to December 13th, 2024 are guaranteed acceptance to our New York East seminar. Additional students registered by this date will also receive an early-bird discount. Registrations submitted online after December 13th will be accepted on a space available basis.

The planning committee has been planning thoroughly around all COVID-19 best practices according to NYS guidelines. At this time HOBY NYE does not anticipate the requirement of COVID vaccination, booster, or masking. However, should NYS guidelines change to recommend taking further precautions, HOBY NYE will follow. This may include masking, testing, social distancing, and/or additional strategies to ensure a safe environment.

When registering students, schools may select up to 4 primary students to represent your high school at our program. We also ask that each school select one alternate student to attend in case one of your primary students can no longer attend. This student would not attend unless a primary student is unable to attend.

We will be following up with more seminar details via email. When you register a student please ensure that ALL email addresses are correct. This includes the school contact email, student(s) email, and parent(s) email. If these email addresses are not correct, we will not be able to get in touch with the student and it could affect the student’s ability to attend the seminar. Keep in mind that school issued email addresses often block emails from outside of the school district. Please use the student’s personal email address when registering. Specific information regarding our seminar will be outlined in a packet of pre-seminar materials. This will be emailed in late winter/early spring and will be sent to the school contact email address, student email address, and all parent email addresses. This packet will provide you and your student with all of the necessary information to attend the seminar. If you do not receive this packet of information by mid-March, feel free to email operations@hobynye.org to ensure we have the correct email on file.

This is the first change in the HOBY NY East payment structure since 2018. In the past we have offered a single student from each school a lower rate subsidized through donations and higher costs for additional students. Going forward, HOBY will charge a single rate for all students. The cost for a school sending a single student will be higher, however the cost of a school sending multiple students will be lower. HOBY volunteers will continue to dedicate time to fundraising in order to keep costs low for all participants. It is our hope that this payment structure will be more equitable to all. This year, the registration fee for all students is $275. This fee covers administration costs associated with the seminar – for example insurance and the maintenance of the online registration portal. It is highly recommended that the high school pay the registration fee for their initial primary student to attend. If the school cannot afford this fee, we encourage the school and the student to work together to solicit donations and/or sponsorships from the local community. The school may apply for a scholarship from HOBY NY East. Additional students can cover the sponsorship fee through solicited donations, community or school based scholarships, or friends and family contribution. Parents should only be asked to pay this fee as a last resort. HOBY NY East has committed to fundraising an additional $225 for each student (which we refer to as the sponsorship fee) to cover the room and board of the students. This commitment has allowed us to limit increases in fees to the schools and helps to ensure that all schools are able to participate in our program. You may hear about this fee if a business or organization from your community that we have contacted for a donation reaches out to see if your school is participating.

We offer scholarships for students to attend the HOBY New York East seminar. The scholarship for a primary student should be completed by the school. The application is available online. The scholarship for an additional student is also online. It does require a letter of recommendation. Students can access it here. For more information on eligibility for scholarships and how to apply, please contact registration@hobynye.org.

We do not offer refunds for our program. We recommend that all schools register an alternate student in case the primary student cannot attend. This allows the school to replace the student who cannot attend with a student that can attend. In the event that an additional student cannot attend and has paid, we recommend the school still replace the student who cannot attend. If the parent(s)/guardian(s) of the student who has withdrawn has paid, the newly registered student can directly pay the family of the withdrawing student. In the event that the student that withdraws was awarded a scholarship, a primary student’s scholarship will be transferred to the alternate student. For an additional student scholarship, the transfer of the scholarship will be done at the discretion of the scholarship committee as this scholarship is awarded based on an application by the additional student and not the school. The newly registered student might be asked to complete the scholarship application themselves in order to receive the funds.

All students that register for our program commit to being at the seminar for the entirety of the event including overnight. We do not allow students to leave the program and return nor do we allow students to check in late. This includes, but is not limited to, leaving for sporting events (including state tournaments), prom, school plays, and NYSMAA. We understand that this may mean the student needs to make a difficult decision as to which event to participate in. In the event that your student cannot attend for the entire program, we recommend you replace the student with an alternate.

Use the following checklist below to ensure your student is ready to attend the HOBY New York East leadership seminar! If you are unsure if a step is complete, please contact us. The student is registered online via the HOBY.org registration process. (For more information see “What is the registration process for sending a student to seminar?” above) The student’s registration fees have been paid. (For more information see “What is the cost for attending the seminar?” above) The student’s pre-seminar materials have been fully completed and returned to our HOBY Operations Team. This includes all medical paperwork that they may need to complete. These pre-seminar forms will be sent to all registered students in the Spring. The student’s key deposit has been paid. This is explained in the pre-seminar materials sent by our HOBY Operations Team.

During the registration process Contact: Director of Recruitment Madeline DeLorenzo Email: registration@hobynye.org Phone: 518-882-8496 After you have registered your student Contact: Director of Operations Christopher Urban Email: operations@hobynye.org Phone: 518-882-8496 Questions about the overall program/organization Contact: Leadership Seminar Chair Ryan McCormick Email: Chair@hobynye.org Phone: 518-882-8496 Please keep in mind that all of our staff members are volunteers and will return your phone calls and emails at their earliest convenience.