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The lessons Amy Hughes learned during International Leadership Conference and National Leadership Conference in the mid-1990s laid the foundation for her personal and professional life today. Hughes is a medical oncologist and hematologist at Mission Cancer + Blood in Des Moines, Iowa, and the co-founder of Amadora Legacy Project, a nonprofit that helps families preserve video memories of loved ones with life-threatening illnesses. The Girl Scouts of Greater Iowa recently recognized Hughes as a finalist for the The Inspiring Women of Iowa character award, which celebrates those who support and fight for women every day.

Hughes still carves out time to volunteer at NLC as often as she can, and she returns to Miniwanca as her children eagerly attend camp each summer. Here’s why Amy Hughes continues to support the AYF 30 years after her first ILC experience.

What is your history with the AYF?
I was first introduced to the AYF through International Leadership Conference at Miniwanca in 1995. I was the only girl from my high school to receive the I Dare You! award and I was so nervous to attend!

ILC transitioned to National Leadership Conference a few years after I started. I completed my full four years of programming with my class of Ujima (Collective Work and Responsibility). The program was so impactful, that I stayed on as staff until 2004 when I had to take a break to complete medical school/residency/fellowship training.

I returned to the dunes in 2014 and still to this day try to prioritize my June vacation schedule to continue to volunteer with NLC.

What sets the AYF programs apart from other youth development programs?
For me, it was the first leadership development program that was also a sleepaway camp. I had previously attended other leadership forums and programs, but even if they were multiple days, I drove back and forth each day. The ability to remain onsite and live in community with other campers brought incredibly deep and long lasting friendships. And we bonded over some ridiculous experiences about raccoons in the wilderness, which still brings us laughter today. I also absolutely love the focus of deeper self-reflection as a way to understand your personalized leadership style.

What is one way the AYF impacted you?
Miniwanca was life changing for me. I came from a privileged background of private schools, a comfortable lifestyle, and happily married parents. The classmates around me at my private school were all like me. There was very minimal diversity.

Going to Miniwanca, particularly my first several years when the program was international, was a bit mind blowing. To be able to deep dive into hard, emotionally challenging topics with teens from different countries, cities, and suburbs was the most eye-opening experience of my young adulthood.

It as the first opportunity I’d had to have those deep discussions in my everyday life. Being able to experience it through the eyes of a different culture, race, socioeconomic status, family structure, or gender was one of the most impactful lessons in tolerance, curiosity, and empathy. There are truly formative memories I hold close to my heart of very specific interactions that changed my worldview for the better.

How has AYF impacted your family?
My best friends are from camp, and so many decades later, our kids are old enough to start attending NLC themselves. I am so excited that my oldest son will  join me on the dunes this June for his inaugural year of NLC.

All three of my kids started attending summer camp at Miniwanca as soon as they were 8 years old and could register. They continue to go back yearly, and I can see the confidence it brings them to be independent thinkers and learn how to live without Mom and Dad beside them every step of the way. As my other two get old enough, they will also join Mom on the sand dunes for NLC, and I can’t wait!

Why do you support the AYF today?
I support the AYF because of their life-changing programming and because of the positive impacts I have seen in the teens I have helped facilitate and mentor over two decades with Miniwanca. If we can continue to encourage leading with curiosity, empathy, reflection, and bravery, then I think our world would be a much better place.

Why should others support the AYF through financial gifts or volunteering?
For the same reason that I choose to personally support the AYF: cultivating our future leaders in the art of curiosity, kindness, empathy, knowledge, and bravery will have long lasting impact on the future of our world as a whole.