Cheng Leng Xiong – HOBY Outstanding Youth Award

On Saturday, April 6, several NYLC staff and friends gathered at Bethel University in Minnesota to celebrate Cheng Leng Xiong, winner of the Outstanding Youth Award, presented by HOBY. Cheng, a former NYLC Youth Advisory Council member from Saint Paul, MN, was celebrated with the award for his inexhaustible service to his peers, his friends, and his community. Like a tree that, through its growth, hopes to be of benefit to what it comes in contact with, Cheng is a steadfast support to all who have the good luck of coming to know him. He is not of the variety that engages in an act of service hoping to be observed — he would rather he not be noticed — but when, invariably, he is seen, he playfully passes the credit along to someone else. Truly, he wants to serve to be of benefit, not for the satisfaction or the attention.

He seems, as best as I can tell, to be that caliber of person who does the thing he does out of a real sense of commitment to bettering people and society. There are so many people and stories in our communities worth celebrating, and so it was with great joy that I was able to join in celebrating Cheng, a man of infinite inspiration. He is present and dedicated in so many communities and the lives of so many individuals. He is not only remarkable because of how widely he has committed himself to the better good of his community, but because of the courage with which he has done so as he transitions between his Hmong roots, his present place here in Minnesota, and on the many national and local councils of which he is a part. Through all of his engagements and relationships, Cheng remains the very picture of the ‘Servant-Leader,’ offering opportunities for his life to be a cultural exchange to those who he works with, inviting us to learn from his rich heritage as he shares himself in service. I am reminded, at the close of this short note, of one afternoon while working with Cheng at the National Youth Leadership Training. He was wearing a shirt that read, “create a leader, be the first follower.” I thought that there was no better way to describe him, succinct and lovely, a wonderful vision and aspiration.