When Henry Farrell entered the UCSB Global Leadership Connection last fall, little did he know he was going to receive the top male award and be selected as one of two Santa Barbara Male Youth Leaders of the Year. “I was really surprised [to win] because there were so many other quali ed people in the room,” Farrell said. Last year’s juniors Farrell, Clara Hillis, Grace MacNeil, Maddy Nicholson and Zaira Paredes participated in UCSB’s Global Leadership Connection: a scholarship and awards program honoring outstanding high school juniors who maintain a high scholastic average and have demonstrated leadership ability both in school and in the community.

Students participating wrote essays about leadership, were interviewed, and partic- ipated in group activities. ese activities were all taken into account in choosing the top two male and top two female students to go to an all-expense paid week-long trip to Washington, DC funded by the Busch family.

In receiving the top male Youth Leader award, Farrell joined 14 other senior leaders from other parts of the country — Illinois, Iowa, San Diego and Santa Barbara.

Most participants came from public schools but a few, such as Farrell, attend private schools.

Participants stayed in the Hamilton Hotel and were led by Carol Harder and her daughter, Allie Harder. is program, along with teaching leadership, is an opportunity for students to make long-lasting connec- tions and get a hint of the college experi- ence of having a roommate.

Farrell’s roommate was Aiden Chodorow from San Diego, CA. “He’s had a perfect score on just about every test there is, has worked an internship at his dad’s investment banking rm, plays soccer, and is a concert guitarist,” Farrell said. As a roommate, Chodorow “was super tidy and clean,” qualities Farrell hopes his “roommate in college is like.” Because the group was so small — only 15 people — a large portion of the trip was spent getting to know fellow participants and talking about leadership. “It’s good to meet people because it is a good social skill to have going into college,” Farrell said.

The kids were “different from Laguna people,” Farrell said; many of them went to public school and “a lot of them were only able to go [to DC] because it was free. Zac [Scornavacco] was working two jobs and another girl was just taking out her student loans at Cornell — it was different vibes.”

After the trip, the participants have kept in contact, especially through a group chat in which Scornavacco sends the occasional ‘fact of the day’ video.

“Zac is a marvelous individual,” Farrell said, “He lives in Torrey Pines San Diego, is a really involved ASB president, and on top of that, works two jobs. His twin sister is going to Stanford for lacrosse and his dream school is also Harvard. Zac is really smart and has a similar sense of style — a really good sense of style.”

Other than getting to know each other and discussing leadership, the group got to know the city. ey “went to every museum you could think of in the area,” Farrell said, such as the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum and the Holocaust Museum.

Visiting the Holocaust Museum was especially meaningful to Chodorow, whose “grandmother was a Holocaust survivor who had a sister who was taken by Doctor Mengele,” Farrell said.