The Legacy Begins

In the Summer of 1999, then sophomore Marina Ricci was picked to be the Ambassador for Buffalo Grove High School at the Hugh O'Brian Youth Leadership Conference of Northern Illinois (HOBY). Luckily in the summer of 2000, Marina became an intern at a local youth organization called OMNI Youth Services. There, Phil Carona who was supervising Marina gave her the opportunity to do anything she felt would be impactive on the community as her duty as an intern. Jokingly Marina said that she wanted to do a leadership conference for eighth graders in order to give them the skills that HOBY gave her when she attended a year earlier. However, Phil did not take this as a joke and thus the idea for the MYLE Youth Leadership Conference was set. With the help of OMNI Youth Services and all of the people involved in this organization which gives young people the power to take control of their lives and to achieve their dreams, this project became a reality.


After a lot of hard work and six months later the First Annual MYLE Youth Leadership Conference became a reality on Nov. 3, 2000. Twenty Five eighth graders had attended and through the help of OMNI Youth Services, HOBY alumni and community volunteers, the conference could not have been any more flawless.