Seaford High School sophomores, from left, Calleigh Harten, Sydney McEntee, Michael Gagliano, Jamie Klein and Hannah Gerace were selected to attend the 2025 HOBY leadership conference.
Photo courtesy of the Seaford School District
Young leaders are the backbone of Seaford High School’s thriving student life, and a quintet of sophomores will soon get the chance to strengthen their leadership skills. Michael Gagliano, Hannah Gerace, Calleigh Harten, Jamie Klein and Sydney McEntee were selected to attend the 2025 Hugh O’Brian Youth Leadership Conference.
The 10th graders will attend HOBY’s New York Metro seminar from June 6-8 at Adelphi University. They were selected from more than 20 students nominated by Seaford High School teachers.
“I’ve heard good things from people who have been to HOBY,” said Jamie, who wants to bring back the knowledge she gains to be a stronger leader in school and also teach others leadership skills.
“I’m really excited to have been selected for this,” added Sydney. “It’s a great opportunity for our generation to learn how to be better leaders.”
The five HOBY ambassadors are very active in clubs and athletics in Seaford. Michael is on the cross country, winter track and spring track teams, while Sydney plays basketball and runs tracks, and also is a member of Best Buddies, the Dance Club and Key Club. Hannah is president of the Student Alliance, stage manager on the Stage Crew, and member of the muralists, National Art Honor Society and Color Guard. Jamie is in the Student Alliance, Books and Bagels, muralists, National Art Honor Society and plays flute in the marching band, and Calleigh is in student council and plays softball.
Students are chosen to attend the HOBY conference as sophomores, because they typically take on leadership positions during their junior and senior years.
After being nominated by teachers, the finalists were interviewed by a panel of students and staff. That included juniors and seniors who attended the 2023 and 2024 HOBY conferences, as well as building administrators, guidance counselors and the sophomore class advisers. Candidates were asked to reflect on the qualities that make them a good leader and share ideas on how they would make their school better.