2023 Youth Leadership Conference

Youth Leadership Council was established in 1989 with a goal of teaching the youth to be well equipped leaders in our community. Their mission is to empower youth and young professionals by promoting leadership development, civic engagement, and multicultural understanding while building awareness of issues facing the Asian American community.

2023 Conference

Interested in next year’s conference? Please visit our Student Interest Form Page to sign up for more details about next year’s conference.

2022 Conference Recap

This year’s conference was held at Rice University from Friday, July 29th through Sunday, July 31st.

2021 Conference Recap

The 2021 Youth Leadership Conference was a two day virtual conference followed with an optional in-person post conference gathering. The virtual conference was open to high school students across the United States. Students had the opportunity to participate in virtual leadership development activities, connect with other Asian American high school students, and meet mentors they can go to for advice about college, careers, and life beyond high school.

2019 Conference Recap

The 2019 YLC Conference theme was Collaboration. Go Far Together. It is said that working in teams enables employees to be responsible, quicker and more effective in their work, as compared to people who work on projects on their own. Collaboration is a key factor into being a successful leader. The three-day conference was packed with small group activities, debrief sessions, and guest speakers to improve the student’s understanding of the importance of collaboration and motivate them to work with others effectively. While building strong friendships and connections, students walked away from the conference feeling empowered with a new mindset that will help them pursue their goals and become great future leaders!

2017 Conference Recap

The 2017 YLC Conference theme was Be Confident. Be You. Confidence leads to success. In order to develop confidence, we practiced “power poses” to build upon physical confidence and activities to be gain self understanding of each individuals traits, which can help foster self confidence. With an exciting conference and fun scavenger hunt, students confidently led their groups and used their strengths to help them achieve their goals.

2016 Conference Recap

The 2016 YLC Conference theme was The Fire Within. Activities for this year’s conference were centered around the idea of emotional intelligence (EQ). In order to be a great leader, one must develop a strong sense of understanding regarding those around them. Motivation, self-awareness, empathy, social skills, and self-regulation were all skills that students learned to build upon through fun-filled, learning activities.

2015 Conference Recap

The 2015 YLC Conference theme was Smash The Glass. All leaders have already come across obstacles, whether physical, emotional, internal, external, or whatever they may be. Through an exciting conference, students learned how their individuality, determination, motivation, and THEIR STORY could help them find success.

2014 Conference Recap

The 2014 YLC Conference theme was #StepUp @YLCHouston.  All great leaders have causes or passions, whether light-hearted or serious, local or global, for which they step up. Stepping up can be as simple as raising awareness about an issue through social media to something more complicated, like creating a non-profit organization for a cause. Through a multitude of fun and educational activities, our 2014 program empowered and enabled students to step up for what they believe in.

2013 Conference Recap

The 2013 YLC Conference theme was Don’t Stop Believing which focused on building and developing confidence to become a more effective leader! Through exciting, fun activities the program strove to develop these skills.

2012 Conference Recap

Our Youth Leadership Conference theme for 2012 was Finding Your Voice. An important leadership skill to have is to be able to communicate clearly and effectively. Students learned this important skill through engaging activities that required communicating to accomplish team tasks. Students were able to practice effective communication to others and groups and were able to learn the differences between effective and ineffective communication.

2011 Conference Recap

The theme of 2011 conference was Don’t Hate, Innovate! Simply put, great leaders are innovative. They possess knowledge, vision, are willing to collaborate, take risks(when necessary), and are resilient. Through a fun and new program format, the 2011 Conference strives to teach these skills to our students.

2010 Conference Recap

The 2010 YLC Conference theme was– Can Y’all Hear Me Now?. The conference inspired high school students to explore the multitude of communications related issues that affect their environment and to empower them with the knowledge and leadership skills necessary to actively engage their communities.

2009 Conference Recap

A common suggestion for the program from previous YLC students was to address how and when to apply the leadership skills learned from conference in a real world setting. The theme for YLC Conference 2009 was Call to Action. During the conference, we presented the students with a “call to action” – a call for our students to plan, organize, and execute their own community service project. YLC engaged students to explore the concerns that affected their communities and where they could play a role. This pledge required students to use the leadership skills learned from conference and apply that knowledge to effect real, positive change. Conference served as an opportunity for students to build on their self confidence and improve upon their skills in organization, prioritization, and communication.

Contact

For more information, please contact:

Katherine Chung
[email protected]
Youth Leadership Council
Student Registrar