Alton Barber, a junior at Pleasant Valley High School, is highly involved in his community and school district. This summer, Barber was nominated by his counselor to be a participant in the “Hugh O’Brian Youth Leadership” foundation’s statewide three-day seminar these students are selected for this honor because of their outstanding leadership skills and community service. While at the conference, they are given the opportunity to develop their leadership skills by hearing multiple speakers and participating in various activities. One male and one female at the seminar were chosen to receive a $2,000 scholarship that would send them to the “World Leadership Conference”.
Barber was chosen by the foundation for this prestigious scholarship and given the opportunity to travel to Chicago with 450 ambassadors from around the globe. This week-long program involves hands-on activities and situations to inspire students to become leaders in not only their community but their nation. Barber feels “extremely fortunate to be nominated by our counseling office” and thankful for the foundation’s choice to send him to Chicago.
Barber is a member of Spartan Assembly and the PV Marching band. He helps organize many fundraising events for the school such as Student Hunger Drive and the homecoming carnival. The counseling office chose Barber to represent Pleasant Valley not only because of his service within the school but his community as well.
“Alton was chosen primarily because of the type of student he is and how he carries himself around the school,” said counselor Tom Neuhaus. “We feel like he is the type of kid to use the leadership training and bring it back to benefit our school. He genuinely cares about every student at PV.”
Currently, Barber’s main project is a “First Lego” league team, which he started for students with learning disabilities. This team then competes against others in lego robotic competitions. This league helps students build confidence and stresses the importance of teamwork.
Barber plans on continuing to share his leadership expertise with the community by leading many more service projects in the future.
