Inside Hancock Youth Leadership

About the Guests:

Olivia Reuille and Ben Jenkins are senior board representatives of the Hancock Youth Leadership program. Olivia is a senior at Findlay High School and Ben is a senior at Liberty-Benton High School. Both have successfully completed the Hancock Youth Leadership program and have taken up leadership roles to guide this year's class.

Episode Summary:

In this episode of Chamber Amplified from the Findlay-Hancock County Chamber of Commerce, Doug Jenkins dives into the role of youth development and leadership in shaping the future workforce. The spotlight is on the Hancock Youth Leadership program and how it works with high school juniors in Findlay and Hancock County by exposing them to various community and career opportunities. Both representatives share their journeys and insights about the challenges faced by youth today and the preparation they receive for life after high school.

Key Takeaways:

• The Hancock Youth Leadership program offers high school juniors exposure to diverse career paths and vital leadership skills, preparing them for post-high school life.
• Generational differences in the workforce are addressed, with insights on how youth can balance traditional work values and modern technological tools like AI.
• Leadership and community involvement are emphasized as key developmental areas for youth in preparing them for future challenges.
• Adult perspectives on youth work ethics can often be misleading; many young individuals are hardworking and eager to prove their capabilities.
• Networking and community exposure through programs like HYL allow for meaningful connections and career exploration, benefitting both youth and the broader community.

Resources:

• Hancock Youth Leadership Program: https://findlayhancockchamber.com/hyl

Music and sound effects obtained from https://www.zapsplat.com

Transcript

0:00:02 - (Doug Jenkins): Welcome to the show. I'm Doug Jenkins from the Findlay Hancock County Chamber of Commerce. On each episode of Chamber Amplified, we're examining issues impacting the local business community. Whether it's employee recruitment and retention, marketing, IT issues, really, it could be anything impacting your business. Our goal is to give our members tips each week on at least one way they can improve operations and thrive in the current business environment.

0:00:23 - (Doug Jenkins): So today we're talking a little bit about the future of the workforce and it's a little self serving as well. I'll get to that in a second. So we're in the middle of Hancock Youth Leadership recruitment season here at the Chamber of Commerce. Hancock Youth Leadership is a program we put on for area high school juniors throughout their junior year. They meet for a session day once a month from August through April. And we tackle a bunch of different subjects and things like agriculture. We talk about justice and law, media and arts on down the line.

0:00:53 - (Doug Jenkins): The goal is really twofold. One is to expose area kids to elements of the community that maybe they didn't realize there were opportunities there. And when you think about it, we have some very large employers in Findlay and Hancock county. And you might think like let's take Blanchard Valley Health System, for instance. If you're a kid, you might just think, all right, doctors, nurses, that's what's at a hospital.

0:01:14 - (Doug Jenkins): You might not realize the really life changing opportunities from a career standpoint in their IT department, in their accounting, in their administration. So the idea is to expose kids to things like that. Also, we work with them on their leadership skills through a variety of exercises that we do throughout the year. I mean, it is Hancock Youth Leadership after all. The idea is that we want them to know that there are good opportunities for them close to home.

0:01:42 - (Doug Jenkins): But beyond that, if they leave the area to go to college or whatever the case is, we want them to know that they can always come home and there will be opportunities for them and have some exposure to that. Now, the reason I'm telling you all about that right now is the deadline to apply for that is March 12th. So I doubt there's a lot of high school sophomores listening to this podcast. But if you know of a high school sophomore who you think could really use this program or would like this program, the deadline to apply is March 12th.

0:02:09 - (Doug Jenkins): Applications are at findlayhancockchamber.com HYL so today we're going to talk about Hancock Youth Leadership with a couple of kids who have now been through it twice. Our senior board representatives, Olivia Reuille, as well as Ben Jenkins. They are senior board representatives. This year they're going to talk about their experience, but we also wanna talk to them a little bit about what graduating seniors are thinking about as they approach their post high school life, what's going through their head right now. We're gonna catch up on that as well.

0:02:38 - (Doug Jenkins): Thanks again for tuning in. Remember, if you're listening on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, you can rate and review the show. It really does help spread the word. Now let's get into it. Welcoming into the podcast a couple of representatives from our Hancock Youth Listener Leadership Program. They are from Findlay High School and Liberty Benton High School, respectively. Olivia Reuille and Ben Jenkins. Thanks for joining us, guys.

0:03:00 - (Ben Jenkins): Yep, thanks for having us.

0:03:02 - (Doug Jenkins): Ben's just shaking it because he knew he didn't have an option. So what we want to do is obviously it's Hancock Youth leadership recruitment season, so I want to use the podcast one to get more information out about Hancock youth leadership and talk a little bit about what your experiences are and we'll get to that. But I thought it would be interesting. We talk a lot about workforce development and things like that around the office here.

0:03:24 - (Doug Jenkins): You as senior board reps have been part of those conversations. But I thought it would be fun to check in with the youths. As they say, don't groan so much and just kind of look at what you think about when joining the workforce. So let's start there. You two are both approaching the end of your senior year. What are the big concerns you have as you look at whatever post high school looks like for you? Olivia, let's start with you.

0:03:54 - (Olivia Reuille): The probably the biggest is just like the cost and how like to work that out but like applying for different scholarships and like taking advantage of all the different opportunities that there are around the county and like actually getting to like you utilize those opportunities.

0:04:11 - (Doug Jenkins): Ben, how about you? Same question.

0:04:14 - (Ben Jenkins): Just like trying to decide like how I want my future to go because it kind of feels like you got to choose your college, your major, all that stuff right now. So feels like you're making a lot of big decisions at 17 years old. So just navigating that and trying to figure out if I'm going to make the right choice and trying to make the right one.

0:04:30 - (Doug Jenkins): Let's, let's kind of talk about that because I know obviously you're both at different schools and guidance counselors try and help work with you on that. And I know we've tried to help work with you on Hancock Youth Leadership, but what when when you talk about your future and the decisions that you make, what is the messaging that you're getting from the adults in your life, whether it's parents or the schools or jobs or whatever it is?

0:04:54 - (Ben Jenkins): I feel like a lot of the time a lot of people I've talked to have kind of mentioned just like, you're probably not going to do what you start, like you're planning right now on doing. Because, I mean, people I've talked to you, I mean, you don't do what you do you agree for. So it's kind of not as big of a deal as it kind of feels like right now, because there's a good chance you're just going to do something completely different in the future.

0:05:11 - (Doug Jenkins): Olivia?

0:05:12 - (Olivia Reuille): Yeah, I would say like the same thing, like, plan for like, difficult, like, paths along the road and like switching isn't a big deal in the long run.

0:05:23 - (Doug Jenkins): What has been most helpful for you two as you've gone through high school to explore different careers and different interests? Olivia, we'll start with you.

0:05:32 - (Olivia Reuille): I would say the Hancock Youth Leadership Program. I mean, we got to talk to so many different people that participated in different careers and like, have had such different paths and have ended up very successful and like getting to hear their stories and how they did it and seeing that if it's okay to like switch, it's okay to like do something for a little bit and change and decide to do something differently.

0:05:53 - (Doug Jenkins): I want the listeners to know I didn't prompt Olivia to say that either. So we appreciate the shout out for Hyl, which we'll talk about a little bit more outside of Hyl, what have been some of the bigger things that are bigger influences for you or discussion points.

0:06:10 - (Olivia Reuille): I like talking to like different counselors, like at the high school level. Like, they're really good insights on like, how they accomplished what they've done.

0:06:20 - (Doug Jenkins): Very good. Ben, how about you?

0:06:22 - (Ben Jenkins): Yeah, I mean, Hyl has been great just because there's so many different things that you see. Like we see all like the healthcare and the business owners and all that stuff. So it's good to see that and then hear from all those people and then LB. Mrs. Allen's really been helpful with it. She's like sending out like career days all the time. Like I went to one at a wealth management place which kind of all that stuff is really easy to do and get signed up for and then go from there and see if you really enjoy what they do on a day to day basis.

0:06:45 - (Doug Jenkins): And I'll point out that I Didn't prompt Ben for that. That shout out for Hyl, and I can ground him if I want to, and I didn't even do that. So that was, that was helpful. What do adults, what do bosses, employers miss when they're talking to people your age? What is something you wish that they know about either you or your group of friends or something that you think maybe they missed the mark on? We talk a lot to area businesses about employing people from all different generations.

0:07:15 - (Doug Jenkins): What do they miss about yours?

0:07:19 - (Ben Jenkins): I feel like there's always going to be sort of a stigma, that stigma that no one really wants to. A lot of the kids are. They don't want to work or they don't do stuff. But, I mean, at least people I'm friends with and I'm around, like all of us when we're at our jobs, like, we work hard, we do, we do a good job, but there's also many times where we're probably going to mess around a little bit, but at the end of the day, we're going to get our job done and do a pretty good job at it.

0:07:37 - (Olivia Reuille): So, yeah, I would agree with that. I think that just, like, we are hard workers and we do care about, like, the work that we're putting out, I think that's.

0:07:47 - (Doug Jenkins): It's important that you are hard workers. And I think one of the things we've tried to stress in some of the podcasts that we've done here and some of the program we've done through the chamber is that different generations approach work differently, but they all know how to work hard. But their hard work may look different. Like, you have come up in a time where you have had, well, at least for the last two years, AI tools, and you are learning that as we go. Just like when I was your age, the Internet just was becoming a thing and something that people would use to research and hadn't really rounded into form.

0:08:18 - (Doug Jenkins): But it felt like the generation ahead of us was like, well, you can't use that. It makes things too easy. Do you feel like that is something that you run into?

0:08:29 - (Ben Jenkins): I mean, with some teachers, there'll be a little bit of that. But honestly, both of our, like the English teachers we have at LB that I've had this year, they kind of encourage us to use it. Just like, don't write your whole essay using it, but to get, like, prompts and every once in awesome information from it is pretty good and it's really helpful.

0:08:44 - (Olivia Reuille): So, yeah, I would say, like, it's such a good resource to like, actually, like, learn different information that you might not have already had, like in your essay.

0:08:54 - (Doug Jenkins): So let's talk about Hancock youth leadership. You both have alluded to it. Now you two are serving as senior board representatives this year, and that's a little bit different than what we're recruiting for. You have come back from last year's class. What were you expecting when you came back as a senior board rep this year? Olivia?

0:09:12 - (Olivia Reuille): I was just expecting to get to do it all over again from, like, a little bit different of a perspective, be able to experience more of, like, the leadership and like, actually kind of being the leader of the group instead of just a participant.

0:09:26 - (Doug Jenkins): Ben does it felt like it's been different than that.

0:09:32 - (Ben Jenkins): I mean, that's pretty much what I've kind of expected just based off seeing the senior board ups last year. But I know we've talked about a lot, especially early, making sure we have more, like, leadership, like, I don't know, in charge more. And I feel like we've kind of had that. And it's been great to get experience being the leader, being in charge of something at 17 years old where a lot of kids my age probably haven't had anything like that.

0:09:53 - (Doug Jenkins): So I'm guessing that not a lot of high school sophomores listen to the Chamber Amplified podcast, which is a shame. We put out a lot of great information here. So this is probably more their parents listening. What do you think parents should know if they have a kid that's a sophomore in high school in Hancock county right now, when it comes to hym, why should they encourage their kids to look into applying?

0:10:17 - (Olivia Reuille): I would say I would encourage, like, applying because, like, even if it's, like, not something that you think would sound fun, you do do a lot of, like, fun activities along with, like, so much learning. And you get to network yourself throughout the community. Really?

0:10:31 - (Doug Jenkins): Yeah.

0:10:31 - (Ben Jenkins): You get to meet a lot of people and like, like we were talking about earlier, it's really helpful narrowing down a career path. And that's all. It's a lot of fun if you especially you're going to meet new people, make new friends, and probably find ways to have a good time.

0:10:42 - (Doug Jenkins): Let's talk about that part. I think sometimes that can be the intimidating part of HYL is that it is a countywide program. So we have Findlay City, we have county schools represented, and all of the county schools, homeschool kids. We mix you all together. Think back to when you were juniors in the program. Was that something you were concerned about? And how did you navigate that Personally.

0:11:05 - (Olivia Reuille): I don't think it was a big concern for me. I feel like no matter what, you'll have someone in the room that is willing to talk. Like everyone wants to talk to everyone. Everyone wants to get to know everyone. So like, I don't think that's an issue at all.

0:11:19 - (Ben Jenkins): Yeah, I mean, anyone that's applying for HYL is going to be a pretty like applied and wants to put themselves out their kid. So it's going to be a lot of people that are easy to talk to and they want to be there and they want to learn stuff. So you're probably going to share a lot of common interests with most people in the class.

0:11:31 - (Doug Jenkins): Now, you two represent two of the larger districts obviously involved in the program. And for parents listening, one of the things that we go out of our to do is to try and mix people up so that obviously there's a lot of Findlay Cities, cool kids there, there's a lot of Liberty Benton kids there. But we want to mix everybody up so that you're there with the Corey Ross and kids, the Arcadia Van Buren and on down the line.

0:11:54 - (Doug Jenkins): And I. I think you guys have really been able to develop some friendships outside of the program that way, if you can correct me if I'm wrong here.

0:12:03 - (Ben Jenkins): Yeah. I mean, last year there was a kid that went to LB in what, like third or fourth grade and then he was in the program with us and he didn't go to LB anymore and, or right to being friends again. And then I made friends with a lot of the people that are, you know, the kids now that are from Corey or Van Buren and stuff that I would never talk to. But now if I see them, I'll talk to them in person and stuff like that. So it's been great.

0:12:23 - (Olivia Reuille): Yeah, I think it's a great opportunity to meet other people that you might not usually get to talk to.

0:12:29 - (Doug Jenkins): So as far as your expectations, when you joined the program, what did you think you were getting into? I know we already kind of talked about what you thought you were getting into as senior board reps and coming back for a second year to help guide the program. But when you were a sophomore getting ready to apply, what were the things that you were looking into or what were maybe your concerns about joining the program?

0:12:51 - (Ben Jenkins): I mean, I think one of the concerns I had was just missing school. And then we used to have it so our session days would be on days where we wouldn't have school. And that was annoying, but other than that. But yeah, I mean, I just thought it would be a thing where we learn. We go around the county and it's kind of what it is. Just you get to learn. You get good leadership, like lessons and stuff, but you also get to learn a lot about Hancock county itself.

0:13:11 - (Olivia Reuille): So originally I was just concerned about if it would actually be like a fun or if I would actually, like, learn anything from it or if it was just kind of going to be a waste of time, which was definitely proven wrong.

0:13:22 - (Doug Jenkins): Thank you. We definitely try not to bore you. I know we have one day last year that. But we fixed it. It wasn't boring this year when we did it this year. But that's in large part, and I think this is where the leadership really shines through, is for those that don't know, for Hancock Youth Leadership, we bring back four kids from the previous class to serve as senior board reps like Ben and Olivia here, and they give us feedback. And the board that organizes this, we listen to that feedback and are able to structure days in a more engaging way based on that. And that just kind of is the tip of the iceberg.

0:13:59 - (Doug Jenkins): If you had one piece of advice for someone getting ready to fill out their application right now as the deadline approaches here on March 12, what would that be?

0:14:10 - (Ben Jenkins): I think just put in effort. Don't like. Don't like, just write random stuff. Try to get it done quickly because there's a lot of competitive applicants in it. So if you put an effort and you know you're a good kid, you got, you're doing a lot of stuff, you're learning, you're a good student, you're probably gonna have a good opportunity. But if you just slack your whole way through it just trying to get it done to check the box, then you're probably not gonna have a good chance of getting into the program.

0:14:33 - (Olivia Reuille): Yeah, I would agree. Like, just make sure that you're writing all the, like, the good aspects about yourself and what you've accomplished and take advantage of the opportunity.

0:14:43 - (Doug Jenkins): Again. The web address to apply is findlay hancockchamber.com HYL it is available for kids in Hancock county who are currently sophomores going into their junior year of high school. One more note on the application process and how they're judged. Yes, obviously you heard from Ben Jenkins there. He is my son. But the way that the applications are judged is very unique in that all of the applicants from the schools, their names and schools are taken off of the application when the judges look at them.

0:15:15 - (Doug Jenkins): So they don't know where the kids are coming from. They just know the quality of the answers on those essay questions. Just wanted to make sure that that was readily apparent as people get ready to apply for the program. Now, obviously I work at the Chamber, I'm going to recommend the program, but just through my own observation, I've really seen kids come through their own in their session year, of course, as juniors. But really those kids who go through as senior board representatives as well, we've seen them grow from very quiet kids in the first couple of months of their junior year to just outright rocks of the community, future leaders that we're all going to be very proud of by the time they're a graduating senior.

0:15:58 - (Doug Jenkins): It's really something. You know how coaches just loved it, and teachers as well love to see how kids develop. And they love it when the light bulb goes off and there's that aha moment. We get to see that too through Hancock Youth Leadership. And it's always really impressive and one of the reasons we keep doing it year after year. So if you know somebody who meets that eligibility requirement, again, currently a sophomore going into their junior year and live in Hancock county, this is a great program for them. Encourage you to check it out.

0:16:26 - (Doug Jenkins): Chamber Amplified is a free podcast for the community thanks to the investment of members of the Findlay Hancock County Chamber of Commerce. Because of our robust membership, we're able to focus on providing timely information to the Findlay and Hancock county business community, run leadership programs for adults and teenagers, and be an advocate for the area while also providing tools to help local businesses succeed. And if that sounds like something you'd like to be a part of, just let me know and we can talk about how an investment in the Chamber helps strengthen the community.

0:16:53 - (Doug Jenkins): That'll do it for this week's episode. If you have any ideas for topics that we should cover on future episodes, just send me an email djenkins@finlayhancockchamber.com. thanks again for listening and we'll see you next time on Chamber Amplified from the Findlay Hancock County Chamber of Commerce.