Students Clean Up Humboldt Park As Part Of Leadership Conference
CHICAGO (CBS) -- About 400 high school students converged in Humboldt Park on Monday to clean things up.
The students are part of the Hugh O'Brian Youth Leadership Foundation's annual World Leadership Congress. They were cleaning, mulching, painting, and a lot more at the 207-acre park.
Students came from as far away as Iraq, Turkey, Pakistan, China, and elsewhere to take part in the World Leadership Congress, which started Saturday, and runs through July 30 at Loyola University Chicago.
"I want to make here clean, and I want here to look good," said Helin Zere, of Turkey.
Tife Akin-Akintunde, of Switzerland, said he hopes their efforts increase the reputation of the park, so more people will visit.
About 300 and 100 international students made up this year's group. Part of the experience is forming special bonds.
"I have a girl in group from Canada, and a girl from Taiwan, and a guy from China. So it's really cool to intermingle and to build relationships all over the world," Schelinski said.
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HOBY chief executive officer Javier Lafianza said the students in the annual program often include children from Palestine, Iraq, and Israel.
"At some point in time, those students might grow up and might be the ones sitting across the table from each other, trying to figure things out," he said.
Organizers said, during their three hours at the park, they expected to provide about $125,000 worth of service.
"Our generation isn't lazy and sitting around. We're enthusiastic to help," said Sara Schelinski, of south suburban New Lenox.
Grace Wenzel, social media manager for this year's event, said actor Hugh O'Brian – star of the TV series "The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp" – inspired the whole thing.
"He realized how important it was to inspire and communicate with youth that what they're doing now is important, and we shouldn't just wait for them to grow up. We should focus on things now, and offer them leadership skills now," she said.
Thursday night, the kids have a second service project, packing thousands of lunches for the CPS summer school program.
Last year, more than 450 students took part in a similar cleanup effort at Humboldt Park for the annual HOBY conference. The Chicago Park District said it was the largest-ever youth-centered service project at a Chicago park.
