It was for this very reason that John Nguyen and a group student leaders who were all tired of attending leadership conferences with the same adult speakers, disenchanted with the bureaucracy of high school clubs, and fed up with only wishing they were involved in something more influential formed an organization dedicated to the proposition that high school students can be a powerful force for positive change in their communities today!

We’ve been developing and pursuing our vision and mission over the past few years, and we are very excited about this year’s program. We believe that this year’s program will not only entice and excite high school students about leadership, it will also forge lasting relationships between our members and members of the community. Just check out some of the events we have planned for this year’s program.

Information Night
Prospective YLA Associates and their parents are invited to learn about the rich history of YLA, the upcoming 2009-2010 YLA program, and the faces behind the program planning. Parents are highly encouraged to accompany their sons and daughters: we will have the appropriate representatives to address both groups. Please dress in business casual attire!

Kick-off
This is the first official event for the Associates, kicking off the 2009-2010 YLA program. The accepted associates will be given information about everything they would need to know for the year: dress code, necessary time commitment, and a calendar of all the events. Also, they will be able to meet-and-greet with others who have made it into our program.

Disney Leadership Training
Our goal is to provide Associates with a unique leadership development experience, and that is exactly what we will bring to them. Thanks to the generous support of the Disneyland Resort, our Associates will be attending a professional training session. They will be taught and mentored by one of Disneyland's finest leadership trainers. This special session, usually given to all new employees of Disney, will be exclusively taught to our associates, preparing them for the professional world.

Improvisation Night
As growing leaders, our Associates must be able to present themselves while under stressful situations. At this session, the Associates will participate in interactive simulations which will push them to think quickly on their feet. Through this entertaining yet challenging event, the Associates will be able to bond with one another while growing socially as leaders.

Interview Workshop
A valuable skill that is indispensible in the business world is the ability to perform well in interviews. Associates will learn the basic keys to interview successfully as well as clever pointers. After learning about interviews, the members will have a chance to undergo mock-interviews with Youth Board Directors and Advisers.

Mentor Rotation
We have gathered a wide variety of successful career-oriented adults around our community, who will be joining us in a special YLA session. Associates will be given the chance to meet these very diverse members of our community and gain inside knowledge on how they got to where they are today. In the end, members will be allowed to choose a few of these representatives, and have them as their own mentor! Associates can keep in touch with them, and ask them for help or advice.

Seasonal Bonding Events
In this year's YLA program, we will be putting on two seasonal bonding events: one during the middle of the program year, and one towards the end. Every successful organization knows that it is vital for its members to bond in a more casual environment. During these two bonding events, our Associates will be able to relax and get to know their peers.

Introduction to Majors
As a group of college-bound high school students, the Associates will have a chance to learn about the variety of postsecondary majors that are out there from real college graduates. We hope to see our members achieve after they graduate from YLA and high school in the future, so we have constructed this educational and eye-opening event to mentally prepare them for their exciting college careers.

Disney Formal Etiquette Dinner
If you like to eat, then you will definitely enjoy this event! This isn’t just free food we’re talking about; this is free food that you need three forks, three spoons, and two knives to eat. If you’ve never dined with more silverware than fingers, then you are in luck. The leaders at the Disneyland Resort have graciously provided us with a night of fine-dining eduction and an even finer meal. The focus here is learning the formal dinner etiquette we will all need as we go on to become successful leaders in our community!

College Campus Tours
The problem with college tours is that they tend show you the buildings and not the people. We, however, have tapped into our extensive alumni network to bring Associates a different college tour with more perspective. Associates will sit in classes, eat in dining halls, hang out with some college students, and meet professors. All the while, they will be able to be led by a tour guide that had once been in their same shoes several years ago.

We Give Thanks
Every year, Frank Garcia of Anaheim's La Casa Garcia Restaurant offers our organization the opportunity to participate in his crusade to feed the needy on Thanksgiving Day. Therefore, our Associates will prepare turkeys, slice carrots, and cut onions together. Through this aromatic night of food preparation for the needy, our members will be able to bond with one another through a rather peculiar manner.

Awareness Events
We want our Associates to become generous leaders who can, not only participate in community service events targeted at bettering society, but also proactively brainstorm, formulate, and initiate their own society-and community-benefiting plans. This event aims to give the Associates a taste of the teamwork and hard work that goes behind humanitarian community service events and organizations. Through the two Awareness Events, our Associates will ultimately create their own proposal to solve a societal issue, work together in teams, and present their ideas to the Youth Board and Advisers in a culminating fashion. One high-achieving group will also have the opportunity to present their proposal to the Anaheim City Council, which could potentially transform their once-abstract ideas into concrete city actions.

Public Speaking Workshop
All leaders should refine their ability to speak confidently to a crowd or audience. This workshop aims to put Associates in the spotlight, training them to be conscious of their good and bad habits when they speak. Hopefully, our Associates can become more esteemed and fluent public speakers after this constructive workshop.

Graduation
After about five months of exclusive leadership training with us, our Associates will be ready to graduate from our 2009-2010 YLA program. This elegant graduation night, held annually at the Hilton Anaheim, is only the beginning of the end. By graduating from our program, our Associates will become part of the extensive YLA alumni network and have access to countless community business leaders. During graduation night, several Associates will also be selected for the upcoming year's Youth Board of Directors; of course, following an application and interview process.

Graduation is usually the glamorous culmination of each YLA year; but this year, the Youth Board of Directors decided to take a new spin on the program. After this year's graduation around January, a select group of graduated Associates will be able to participate in our Post-Graduate Program. Here, the Post-Graduates will be able to participate in more specific leadership-development sessions to refine their skills. The culmination of this part of the program is YLA's first Benefit Concert. By helping to plan and set up the Benefit Concert, our Post-Graduates will be able to put their leadership and management skills to the real test.