(10/30/24) High school students from across the district took part in a Youth Leadership Conference in Anoka on Wednesday, October 30. More than 75 students from Anoka-Hennepin’s five high schools gathered at the Educational Service Center to take a deep dive into youth service. The students are members of youth service clubs at each high school which are coordinated through Community Education.

During the conference, students heard from John Zheng, a 2019 graduate of Champlin Park High School and a successful entrepreneur with a master’s degree from Harvard.

“With the right intention, commitment and action, you can create extraordinary results,” he said.

Zheng is a founding partner at Omega AI, specializing in automating and scaling multi-million-dollar companies using artificial intelligence. During his keynote, Zheng talked about how his time volunteering in the school’s youth service club had a huge impact on his life.

“Volunteerism and service leads to bigger things later on and it has changed my life in ways that I couldn’t imagine,” said Zheng. “It allowed me to be a part of something that was bigger than myself. Not only that, but I got to connect with amazing people, put together really cool projects and it was an awesome feeling to be in contribution and service to other people.”

After Q & A with Zheng, students took part in breakout sessions where they networked, learned about project planning, promoting events and solving problems. In the afternoon, representatives from several nonprofit organizations attended to meet with students and share information about service opportunities.

The first-time event, which they hope to do annually, was planned by youth service coordinators from each of high schools.