MPISD – News

Makayla Spigner, the 2021-2022 HOBY Youth Leadership Ambassador for Mount Pleasant High School

Contact: Kelly Cowan

MPHS student chosen as HOBY Youth Leadership ambassador

Selected as the 2021-2022 school ambassador for the Hugh O’Brian Youth Leadership Seminar (HOBY) is Mount Pleasant High School junior Makayla Spigner. She participated in a summer leadership seminar at the University of Texas at Arlington.

As many as 300 “ambassadors” from high schools across the state and country gather at their local HOBY State Leadership Seminar between April and June. They experienced life on a university campus, interacted with local community leaders, and explored and exercised leadership on personal and group levels. They also conducted a community service project to put leadership-for-service skills into action and open opportunities for internships, mentorship programs, and other HOBY Ambassadors Connect benefits.

“Through my HOBY experience, I learned that change can be as little as picking up a piece of litter off the floor to as big as leading communities in helping others,” said Spigner. “It does not matter how big or small change is, for doing something for the community is enough. I learned that everyone can be the change their community needs!”

Spigner continued, “HOBY was a really fun experience for me. I don’t normally enjoy getting out of my comfort zone, so being put in a situation where I’d have to make friends, converse, and problem-solve as a team, really helped me have a voice. At the end of the seminar, it felt like I’d known the friends I had made there for months. I still talk to them today!”

Spigner is a Mount Pleasant High School Tiger Doll and an MPHS UIL Academic Team member. She is the daughter of Michael and Dominique Spigner.