Learning to lead: How eight NHIers have grown and developed through volunteering

To celebrate National Volunteer Month, NHI is gathering the stories of a number of volunteers who are giving their time, energy, and knowledge to help advance the organization.

We’ve identified 24 outstanding volunteers — by no means a complete list — and throughout the month, we’ll be highlighting them in a series of stories. Here’s the first installment featuring eight outstanding volunteers.

Gustavo Bosques

Boston College High School, Boston

“I always had a vision of giving back to NHI, just because I saw what it did for me and how it made me have a mindset shift,” Gustavo Bosques said. “And I also recognize there is an opportunity to grow NHI here in the Northeast specifically, but even more specifically in Boston. We have a very large Latino population. I found that this is a very good and pivotal time to get some more NHI roots in the Northeast. And so I committed myself to developing that work.”

In coaching students, Bosques establishes NHI core concepts and sees establishing culture as the most important thing he does.

“NHI is a transformative experience and community, and I think it’s growing every single year, and the more people that are on board with this mission, the better. NHI has a very strong mission at its core, and it’s one that benefited me and can genuinely benefit the lives of any student that is committed and open-minded when entering these programs. From a recruiting and volunteer perspective, we need more people engaged and involved to carry this forward, because the mission is so valuable. And so I would just say, the more people on board, the better.”

Lucas Castillo-West

Liberal Arts and Science Academy, Austin

Finding Austin’s NHIers to be a “tight-knit community that encouraged us to come back,” Lucas Castillo-West decided to help the region grow after completing his first program, becoming a volunteer coach while excelling academically — earning National Merit Scholar Finalist status and ranking second in his class at Austin’s competitive Liberal Arts and Science Academy.

“It’s really fun to be there and to help others out, and going to the actual competitions … that whole experience of seeing the kids actually get to use the skills that they gained,” he observed.

Noting that the Austin Alliance has grown dramatically in size since he began his involvement, he remarked, “We have a lot of sophomores teaching the kids and taking that leadership role. The growth is allowing them to take those leadership positions and help the kids gain those skills.”

He’s also helped run Great Debate tournaments more recently, and notes, “It’s a little bit isolated and you don’t really get to see the kids that much, but when I get to announce which kids move on in the tournament, it’s an edifying experience because everybody is cheering for them and they’re very happy and they get to reap their benefits of all that they worked for.”

Chloe Duchouquette

El Paso High School, El Paso

After competing in the 2023 Texas Great Debate, Chloe Duchouquette knew she wanted to do more with NHI.

“I was so intrigued on where they were all going to school, what other extracurriculars they had going on, and how they all brought it together into NHI to make it such a fun and like beneficial experience for freshmen,” she said of the volunteers who inspired her to become one.

“Through training last year and just seeing the remarkable growth that my participants had over the course of a few months, it was just so inspiring to see what effect I could have on kids not even younger than me, just a few months behind me, caught in a different grade. It was so beautiful to see them grow and evolve as speakers and learners.”

She recommends volunteering to those who want to become more involved in NHI, noting, “It’s a different side of the program, and you’re seeing a lot of the behind the scenes type of stuff. Working through the volunteering and being a trainer and becoming closer with my region, outside of our categories and wherever we went to school, was such an amazing thing. Volunteering really opened me up to the other opportunities that come with NHI and being a part of the bigger picture.”

Isabella Lininger

Uplift Summit International Prep, Arlington, Texas

After competing in the Texas Great Debate, Isabella Lininger discovered what NHI meant to her.

“I realized the bigger picture to NHI and the actual community that was built outside of the debate competition,” she said, noting that she found her North Texas project administrators particularly inspirational. “It made me want to come back and keep doing these programs, and make this the experience that I had for people that next year, building that team and that community the next year as well.”

She says that volunteering at the six-day Great Debate has been important to her.

“Being able to meet new kids and build them up and help them find their voices was something I personally love to see,” she said. “You never know what the participants are going to look like by the end of the program, how they’re going to carry themselves by the end of the program. Seeing that physical change and that attitude change, and how they present themselves from the beginning of the program to the end of the program, and being able to be along for that journey has been something that’s completely like I’ve fallen in love with. It’s a big reason why I go back to volunteer every year.”

Isa Matamoros

Liberal Arts and Science Academy, Austin

Though her 2022 Texas Great Debate team was small, Isa Matamoros says competing for Austin on a 10-person team and learning about NHI was difference making.

“I had an amazing experience, and as soon as the season ended, I already knew I had wanted to come back and volunteer,” she recalls. “After that season ended, it was less about, ‘I want to volunteer because it’s going to look good on my resume.’ It was more about, ‘I want to volunteer because I really enjoyed this program, and I want to give this experience back to newer students. I want to stay involved in this organization.'”

She added, “As soon as I went to the Great Debate, it was amazing being able to be around so many like-minded Latino students. So that’s kind of how I got involved with volunteering. Ever since then, I stayed involved with the NHI Austin team, first as a mock trial coach, then as head coach, and now as director of curriculum. And I’ve absolutely loved it. I love the Austin team. I think there’s a lot of amazing people there, and I love being able to work with students and help them reach their potentials.”

For Matamoros, teaching has been a gateway to more learning. “People say that the best way to learn certain concepts is by teaching it to others, and that’s exactly what volunteering is,” she noted. “You learn all the NHI skills and all the NHI theory, and now you’re trying to teach it to other students. And so I think that’s a cherry on top when it comes to leadership development. Because, yes, the leadership programs are amazing, but being able to actually put all the skills into practice and really see yourself become the leader that you’ve been trying to become during the programs is a great experience, and I would definitely recommend it to others.”

Jose Montenegro

Universidad Rafael Landivar, Guatemala City, Guatemala

“Before the Great Debate, I was a shy person,” said Jose Montenegro. “Thanks to NHI, I spoke English with other people, had more confidence with myself, and also learned how can my ideas be so powerful and how I can share them with others to encourage more of a community?”

Montenegro has worked to grow NHI in his native Guatemala, as well as volunteering at programs where he’s worked with students reminding him of a younger version of himself.

“I remember that the first day that I volunteered at a program, the kids were very shy. For some of them, it was their first experience far from home, by themselves. But it changed a lot after that, because the program helps you to be part of that group, to be part of that family, to show you that you can belong.”

NHI also inspired him to choose a career allowing him to give back to his community and country. “That’s why I’m studying engineering, because we don’t have a lot of engineers in our country,” he said. “Becoming an engineer will be very helpful for my country, to progress and to share more ideas and developments.”

Julianna Muñoz

Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy, La Cañada Flintridge, Calif.

After discovering NHI through the Great Debate and LDZ programs, Julianna Muñoz determined her high school needed to be more involved in the organization, and set out to spread the word among her fellow students.

“I worked with the principal of my school, because we don’t have NHI; nobody at my school knows NHI. So I created a presentation, sent out emails to the school to tell them about what NHI is, just to help the recruiting process along. People started signing up for NHI; I thought that was really cool, and next year, I’m going to do the same thing and recruit the new freshmen coming in.”

“NHI changed my perspective on life,” she adds. “I was pretty quiet, and I wouldn’t speak up a lot. But when I did NHI, they taught me how to stand up for myself, and how to voice my opinion and even though I might be judged for it, they taught me to still voice it, because some people will support me. I feel like everybody could benefit from doing NHI. It’s a really life changing experience. You get to know kids from different countries, different cultures. You just learn more about the world and also yourself. It really gets you out of your comfort zone.”

Lizmarie Osorio

Academy Of Mount St. Ursula, Bronx, N.Y.

“Volunteering with NHI that is so different than the other volunteering I’ve done at other organizations,” said Lizmarie Osorio about her time working at programs and developing the Northeast region. “I’ve been able to see the direct impact … much more than any other volunteering I’ve ever done, and it feels different than just another service project.”

She realized, upon participating in the Great Debate, that she wanted to volunteer to help pay forward the experience she had.

“I just saw how much everybody that was on staff when I was at my Great Debate just cared so much,” she recalled. “I could tell that everyone was really into it, passionate about it, and I just love that energy. So I was like, however much I can get more of this, beyond those six days at Great Debate, sign me up!”

NHI began the process of identifying volunteers late last year, asking the greater NHI community for College Student of the Year nominations via an NHIMagazine.com article and NHI’s social media channels. NHI then sought nominations of high school volunteers from staff members, project administrators, and other volunteers.