Leadership Starts Here: Inside Hancock Youth Leadership (HYL)

Hancock Youth Leadership (HYL) helps high school students build real-world confidence, communication skills, and a deeper understanding of the community. In this episode, you’ll hear that impact directly from a student leader.

Doug Jenkins talks with Maya Logsdon, a Senior Board Representative for Hancock Youth Leadership, about what the program is really like, what surprised her most, and why the community component of HYL often becomes the biggest takeaway.

They discuss:

• Why HYL is more than “leadership skills," and how it changes students’ perspective
• How students build confidence through communication, connection, and community exposure
• What Senior Board Reps do behind the scenes (and why it’s a major growth experience)
• How recruitment works across Hancock County schools, including Findlay High School
• How local businesses can support HYL through fundraisers and student-led outreach
• What students need to know about the application process and recommendations

The deadline to apply for the next Hancock Youth Leadership class is February 27, 2026 for current sophomores in Hancock County and Findlay City Schools.

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

Transcript

Welcome And Purpose Of The Show

Doug Jenkins 0:05

Hello again and welcome to another edition of Chamber Amplified, brought to you by the Finlay Hancock County Chamber of Commerce. I'm your host, Doug Jenkins. Each week on the podcast, we're talking about the things that matter most to local businesses and organizations, whether that's workforce and leadership development, it could be marketing, IT issues, really just the everyday realities of running something that serves our community. On today's episode, we're talking about leadership. More specifically, Hancock Youth Leadership. So if you've ever wondered what Hancock Youth Leadership actually does beyond just the leadership skills, this is an episode that spells it all out for you. It's one of those programs that quietly creates a ripple effect, especially for kids in high school. You help build confidence, communication skills, community awareness, things that students can build upon and learn a little bit more about the community. Selvicly, we hope they come back to the community after they graduate. You're going to hear from Maya Logsden. She's a senior board representative in the program this year, currently a senior at Finlay High School. She'll talk about what her surprised her most about the program, including her, I thought this was stupid moment that actually turned into a major perspective shift. That's always important to have with high schoolers. The deadline is coming up fast for current Hancock County and Finlay sophomores in high school. They do have until February 27th of this year to apply. But if you don't have a kid in that age range, it's still important to learn about the program. Maybe your business would like to get involved. Again, if you're a parent, you'll learn about how HYL helps with teens and the things that they need to learn about as they grow into leaders' communication and confidence. If you're a business, you'll hear about how students engage with the community through fundraisers and outreach and how those connections matter. If you enjoy the podcast, don't forget to leave us a rating and review. You can share it with others as well. We're also on YouTube right now. So if you want to share the message of this podcast, that's a really easy way to share it. Just toss the link in your Facebook feed and be done with it. Now, let's get into it. Let's first start with how you got involved with the program. What made you want to be a part of Hancock Youth Leadership when you were just a sophomore getting ready to apply?

Maya Logsdon 2:11

For me, like when I joined HYL, I didn't really know much about it because it wasn't really advertised well to us. And this year we were really trying to recruit more for that and get more kids involved in it. But I always just wanted, I always knew that I kind of had those leadership qualities, and I really wanted to see more about what I was capable of, but I actually never really like knew the ins and outs of HYL. I thought I was just learning leadership skills, but I actually learned so much more about the community, and I'm so grateful for that experience now.

From Skepticism To Community Appreciation

Doug Jenkins 2:41

Yeah, let's talk about that. Obviously, it's called Hancock Youth Leadership, but a big component of it is learning about the community and different aspects. Like you said, when you've uh were a part of the program uh just as a student, and we'll talk about what a senior board rep is here in just a second. But when you just took part in the program last year, let's talk about your expectations when you got started. And then when we started to roll in those learning more about the community, how that kind of helped guide you and maybe learning more about what you wanted to do.

Maya Logsdon 3:10

For me, when I first joined, like I saw that every session day was a different topic, and I was like, that is so stupid. I already know I want to go into healthcare. Why would I go to all these things? But I, in like reality, I'm so grateful because now I just have a newfound like appreciation for everything everyone does in the community. I didn't really know about the in and out, the ins and outs of like the engineer's office and the water treatment plant, and I'm so grateful. Like every single day I drink water and take a shower. I always think of like what people put in that effort for us. And I never really expected that from HYL. I thought every single session day was just gonna be like sitting down, like was what Zach Thomas provides us with the lead curriculum? That's what I expected every day to be, but I'm so grateful for all the other aspects of it. But it's so interesting how in every single session day we also get the can the contribution of the leadership skills as well.

Light Bulb Moments: Reframing And Belonging

Doug Jenkins 3:59

Well, I'm glad to hear that you drink water every day because that you know hydration's important, so that's uh that's a big positive. What was maybe the light bulb moment for you when, like you said, at first you're like, I already know what field I want to go into, and you're very involved in that field already uh as a high school senior. Uh, but what was maybe the moment in some of those first sessions where you thought, oh, wait, that's kind of cool. I didn't know that. And then it opened the door for more opportunities to learn about the community.

Maya Logsdon 4:28

Probably the biggest one, because especially going in, I was so excited for Health and Human Services Day, and that was our third session day. And I was so excited because we had someone come in and speak about the power of reframing, and that like that has stuck with me every like through all of my aspects of my life is like that. Was my first light bulb moment of like, wow, like I'm really learning things to take away from that will benefit my whole entire life. And I really, I really think about that every single time. I'm just like out of stop, like how she talks about intercession day or anything like that. I always think about it, and then also Seth, who worked at Chick-fil-A, this it was later in the session year, but during belonging day, he talked about um like how belonging is important for leadership, and I've also really stuck with that because I've always thought of myself as someone who likes to make sure people feel like they belong and feel connected, but you don't really know how if you actually are making people feel that way. And it also gave me a kind of inside appreciation of like that's so important in leadership.

Becoming A Senior Board Representative

Doug Jenkins 5:26

Yeah, Seth Butler, uh, for people who don't know, you would be well worth having come talk to your organization uh on a variety of topics. Always happy when we can get him involved in in Hancock youth leadership. So you go through last year as a as a junior in the program, or just uh in the general thing, but then there is the opportunity to become a senior board representative, which for people who aren't familiar with the program, we bring back four of the members of that year's class to then help do planning and help shape the program going forward. What made you want to take that on? Because you're busy, you're on, you're pretty busy, Maya.

Maya Logsdon 6:04

Yeah, I I always, and even when I had my interview for my senior board rep thing last year, they're like, How are you gonna fit that into the schedule? And I said, I said, HML is just so important to me because I know for me, like it was so interesting being both being able to learn leadership experience. It doesn't mean like we really got to put it out there as much as high school juniors, but I feel like as a senior, I was like, I want to put this leadership qualities out. I really want to make have an influence on these juniors and have them as have as successful as alive as I think as they could have. And so that's kind of why I wanted to be an HYL board rep. And I also thought it was so interesting like being able to be a part behind the scenes of HYL because it just I have a newfound respect for everyone on the HYL board because you don't really know, like junior year, you just see them there, you just see them at the things on junior year, but senior year, it's like you get to see what everyone does, and I'm so grateful for that experience.

Recruiting Sophomores And Finding Confidence

Doug Jenkins 6:59

I think one of the things I've been really impressed with with you and your fellow senior board reps is is really digging into how we go about recruiting the following year's class. And one of the things that you guys have really taken on is going out to each school to talk to this year's sophomore class about what it means to be in HYL, reasons that they they would want to be in HYL. Uh, you know, it's one thing for me to go in front of a group of kids and talk about why you should be in Hancock youth leadership. I think it's entirely more effective to hear from someone who's actually been through the program. But what were your nerves like doing that? What did you learn from going out to do that recruitment?

Maya Logsdon 7:39

I think for me, like I was I've all I've always loved to public speak, so that never was an issue for me in the first part. But I was always it's always more nerve-wracking wracking public speaking in front of your peers than it is in front of adults for me, because high schoolers are judgy sometimes, but you know, that just a tough audience. It really is. It is a tough audience, and I I am so grateful for the response that I got. Like, I personally, me and uh Stephan Adams got the opportunity to speak in front of all of the Findlay High School sophomores, and that was over 200 kids, and it was so interesting because you're just you're I am a student at Findlay High School and I just walk around the halls with 2,000 kids, but it was so interesting. Like, people came up to me in the hallway, I have no clue who they are. But they come up to me and they're like, Hey Maya, can you help me with my H Well application and all these things? So then my the first time we were at Arcadia, I was kind of nervous because I didn't really know how they'd respond, but especially as I got through to like over 300 kids presenting to, I was so grateful for how everyone responded.

Doug Jenkins 8:41

Well, and you should be commended for really spearheading the effort to get in front of the Finlay High School kids because Finlay is so much larger, it's a little bit more of a difficult area to recruit because we can't do it the same way as we do all of the county schools. So the way that you and the senior board reps have approached that has been been really awesome. Do you think that's something you would have been comfortable doing a year ago at this time?

Communicating With Peers And Public Speaking

Maya Logsdon 9:04

Oh no, definitely not. I remember every single time like I presented to the kids, we talked about like what our goals are for HYL students, and it's one of them is building confidence. And the one I always harped on when I was presenting is my confidence has been built so much through my experience in HYL. And it's not like we do like heaps of public speaking, but you do get that learn how to communicate better, and so then by learning to communicate even one-on-one better, you're better at public speaking. And I've even last year while I was a junior in HYL, like I was able, I spoke at a HOSA conference and I spoke in front of 3,000 people, and it was just such a great experience because I would never be able to do that.

Doug Jenkins 9:44

Well, you really are not afraid to speak in front of public people. Oh, I love it. I love it. To take that on. That's that's pretty good. So obviously, uh Chamber Amplified Podcast, probably not in the uh podcast uh listening of a lot of high school sophomores right now. I don't know, maybe there's a lot of business-minded sophomores out there, and it's uh that's a demographic that we just don't know that we have. But uh, if you were going to talk to someone's parent about Hancock youth leadership and about why it's a good program to get into, what would be what would the things that you would want to highlight be?

What Parents Should Know About HYL

Maya Logsdon 10:20

I think one of the main things I want to highlight is I feel like as generations are going on, and Sarah Fultz even talked to me about this one time. She's like, Maya, why are you so social? and all the other kids like that are your age are. And I said, Well, I think it's just there's a communication skills is a big lack thing as generation goes on, and I think HYL really helps kids build those communication skills because social anxiety and all those aspects are a huge issue, and so I think it's so important to build those skills.

Application Deadline And How To Apply

Doug Jenkins 10:50

Absolutely, and a lot of opportunities to do that within Hancock Youth Leadership. Now, uh, if you're listening to this the week that we record it, the deadline to apply is coming up February 27th of 2026. So uh if you know of anyone who's interested, who's a current sophomore in a Hancock County High School or Finlay City Schools, be sure to pass this along to them. Let's just talk about filling out that application, Maya. It takes a little bit of effort, so you don't want to maybe put it together the the very last day of the process.

Fundraising, Business Support, And Making The Ask

Maya Logsdon 11:22

Yeah, so I know some kids, I like I know many kids are guilty of doing it the day before, but we do need it is right, like it's recommended to have a letter of recommendation, and then you also need to fill out some like essay questions, but the essay is not a full five-paragraph essay, it's not hard at all. It's all and it's all just like kind of sentence responses because I remember when I applied for HYL, I always like to write like paragraphs about my life, and there was a character like limit, and I was like, I cannot speak about my life in 200 characters, that's crazy. But it's really important because you kind of get to put all of your most key quality facts in that one application.

Doug Jenkins 12:02

That's right. I forget you guys were part of the class where there was a setting on the application that accidentally got checked that uh put a character limit of about that of a tweet. And then once we realize we're happening, we're like, well, we gotta roll with it now, so everybody has the same as as dealing with the same thing. You guys handled it well. That's part of being a leader, is dealing with uh things like that. So we've talked uh about why kids maybe want to be involved in the program, but for the community as a whole, who maybe not wouldn't be familiar with Hancock youth leadership, what should area people, what should area businesses know about the program that might want them or might help them get more involved with the program and find different ways to to help out?

Maya Logsdon 12:43

One of the biggest things that I I didn't know personally going into HYL is our fundraiser. So to help with the future classes of HYL, we have we every single group, so there's four of us senior board reps, we all have a group of kids and we run a fundraiser with a certain limit. And it's not just about raising money for the future classes, but it's also about building those leadership skills within like us as people and being able to put this out and forward. So it's that's a really big key part of being like being able to be involved as a business because I know for me, we did a silent auction this year and we sold hot chocolate and we like reached out to local businesses and we really get to see what they could provide for us to raise money for HYL. And it's also not only is it just like those small donations, but also the connections that you could build with the students is so profound because all of the students in HYL are immensely talented in their leadership skills and who they are as people.

Handling Nos And Building Community Ties

Doug Jenkins 13:38

I think one of the most important things that we can teach through the program is just the importance of being able to make the ask. I think a lot of times, you know, you think, oh, I'm not gonna go into sales or anything like that. And then as you get older, you realize, well, everything is sales. It doesn't matter if you work in a lab or you're working in healthcare, like you're gonna be doing, uh, or anything like that. You're gonna have to ask for something somewhere along the line. So getting used to making that ask and maybe hearing no uh is isn't a very important part of that leadership development process. How was that for? I don't know. Businesses don't say tend to say no to kids. So maybe you guys had a pretty good experience with that.

Growth, Next Steps, And Senior Shoutouts

Maya Logsdon 14:16

Yeah, ours is pretty good. I it was just hard because sometimes it's hard to like be able to reach out to businesses if you're not going face to face. So actually, we a lot I got a lot of my contact info off of the chamber's website to like reach out to all of the places, so that was great. And especially if they're involved in the chamber already, it's it helps a lot because we are through the chamber of commerce. So that was a great experience. And then some of the one of the struggles we did like encounter was a lot of the businesses, if they're bigger businesses, they require like tax forms and all that stuff. But as HYL students, we don't have that, so we did lose the opportunity to have stuff from them, but all the small local businesses provided like so many great things, and we really brought in such huge revenue from all of that.

Doug Jenkins 14:59

It's great to see each class grow. I my favorite part for Hancock Youth Leadership, and even as I somewhat transition out of the role with it, uh, and and Sarah Folds does a lot more, is just seeing the growth of the senior board reps from the time that they become class members and the fall of their junior year to when you guys are approaching graduation, not just the next Hancock Youth Leadership graduation coming up here in uh a couple of months, but also your own high school graduation. So I guess we'll leave it with that. You mentioned that uh you're going into healthcare. What uh what can we expect from my logston after high school?

Maya Logsdon 15:37

So uh next year I'm going to the University of Pittsburgh to major in nursing and then minor in Spanish and psychology because I even like through I have gained with all the leadership experiences I've gained through HYL, I went out and I was like, I gotta start spearheading my career now, getting involved with patients. So right now I work at Birch Haven Retirement Village and I take care of the geriatric population now. So that I created a love for the geriatrics with working at Birchhaven. So I plan to continue to work in geriatrics as a nurse the rest of my life.

Doug Jenkins 16:09

Well, Maya, well we're all real proud of you. We're all real proud of the senior board reps, all four of them. Do you want to shout them out real quick before I I'd hate to not mention them as well? Yes, we have they'll come back and yell at me or something.

Cross-School Friendships And Shared Goals

Maya Logsdon 16:22

I know, they'll come yell at you. They're gonna be like we're vego. But Ben Heikamp and Patrice Pullum from Van Buren and then Applegale Ackerman from Corey Ross, and they do an immense job and like they're so great with everyone. And it's really interesting to see how all four of us really approach being a senior boarder up different differently, because I know Ben is very much more friends with them, and then there's some of us are more business, so it's so interesting to see because we all exude those leadership qualities just in different ways.

Doug Jenkins 16:50

Actually, last question for you. I I was gonna let you go there, but you made me think you four had to come together and kind of learn more about each other. You already were familiar with each other from last year, but now you're in a different role where you're really learning more about each other's leadership styles and how you want to approach things. Um, but that first few, those first few sessions where you don't know the kids from other schools and everything. Obviously, when you're a senior board rep, you're gonna work with kids from other schools and you're used to it at that point. But what was it like getting to know kids from other schools when you first started?

Maya Logsdon 17:24

I think it was so interesting. Like when I first went in on retreat day, I was so nervous because I didn't know any of the kids, and I was just waiting to see some Findlay kids walk in. But even the Findlay kids that came in, I wasn't really friends with them anyway. So I not only got to build relationships with those Findlay kids, but one of the girls that I really bonded with on the retreat day was Ella Rioac, and we were like hanging out all day together, and we just got to speak to these dollars at lunchtime together, and it was so interesting because I haven't met any of these people, but they all just like bring you in and are so friendly, and everyone's nice to each other. And I think it's because we're all like-minded people in a sense. Like, yes, we do our personality tests for all different types of people, but we all have the same goal in mind, which is leadership. So it's so interesting to build those relationships with everyone.

Key Takeaways And How To Get Involved

Doug Jenkins 18:07

Oh Maya, it's been a pleasure to have you guys as part of the class. You've done a great job. Thanks for joining us on the podcast today, too.

Maya Logsdon 18:13

Yes, thank you so much.

Doug Jenkins 18:16

A few things as we wrap up today's interview. Uh HYL, not just leadership training, builds community awareness in local teenagers, appreciation for the community, and real-world communication skills. That's a pretty big one right there. The senior board representative experience, in its own right, shows the growth arc from participant at that first couple of months level when everybody's a little awkward around each other, to becoming a planner, a recruiter, and a mentor for others in the group. It's awesome to see every year. It's probably my favorite part of the program. HYL also helps students practice something that they're going to use forever, whether they're in sales or what. Making the ask, hearing no, and staying confident anyway. Learning how to do that is just a huge, huge thing to be able to do at this age. Businesses also have a clear lane to support HYL through their fundraisers, silent auction donations, mentorship, and connections to the program. And again, a big reminder that the sophomore application deadline is February 27th, 2026. Again, that is for current high school sophomores going into their junior year in the next school year. Well, that'll do it for another edition of Chamber Amplified. This is a free podcast available to the community, made possible by the investment of our members at the Finlay Hancock County Chamber of Commerce. And if you're looking for ways to get your business involved in the community, a lot of times the chamber's the best place to start. If you'd like to learn more, just send me an email, d Jenkins at Findlay Hancock Chamber.com. We can talk about how an investment in the chamber not only helps your business, but helps the business community as a whole. Thanks again for listening. We'll see you next time on Chamber Amplified, the Findlay Hancock County Chamber of Commerce.