The best of the best local youth leaders took center stage at the United Boys & Girls Clubs of Santa Barbara County 2011 Youth of the Year annual dinner held last week at the UCSB Faculty Club.
The festivities highlighted the Youth of the Year program, which recognizes the development of four exceptional club members as community leaders and provides a unique opportunity for club staff members, parents, volunteers and supporters from the community to gather in celebration.
“Most of these kids come to us under the age of 10 and have been with us for six or seven years,” said United Boys & Girls Clubs CEO Michael Rattray. “We are like a second family to them. Over time you can see the leadership skills develop at 13 or 14 years old, so when they hit this level you can pretty much know who the cream of the crop is, but all kids are winners.”
Team directors from each club select one youth who best represents the branch clubhouse for each year. Contestants are chosen on the basis of club mentorship, leadership abilities, academic performance and civic responsibility. One member is selected from the Carpinteria, Santa Barbara West, Goleta and Lompoc clubhouses to compete for the Youth of the Year.
At the award dinner finale, selected candidates were evaluated by a panel of esteemed judges based on a number of rating criteria, including community outreach, moral values, life goals, public speaking, poise and essay writing.
Excitement filled the brightly lit dining area as the four contestants arrived with family and friends for the event.
The room swarmed with bouts of speculation and playful wagers on who would be awarded with the highest honor that a club member can receive.
Hearty applause greeted Rattray when he strolled to the podium and welcomed the crowd of 80-plus attendees.
“Let’s get this party started,” he exclaimed with enthusiasm as he promptly introduced the master of ceremonies, Randy Weiss of Santa Barbara Bank & Trust and a Presidio Sports contributor.
Weiss introduced the distinguished panel of judges and paid a special tribute to the clubhouse team directors, who he described as “the unsung heroes.”
“They touch kids’ lives and make a difference every day,” Weiss said.
Next, he invited the four Youth of the Year candidates to the podium, where each of them gave a two-minute oral presentation to the judges as part of the final selection process.
Jessica Pohl, 17, of the Carpinteria Club spoke first. Her dark eyes blazed with confidence as she proudly proclaimed how choosing to return to the Teen Center every day was the best decision of her life.
As acting president of the Keystone program for the past two years Pohl works with staff and fellow club members to promote the program guidelines, including services to club and community, character and leadership development, education and career exploration, unity, free enterprise and social recreation.
Pohl has also participated in a variety of educational and leadership programs offered at the club, such as Money Matters, Power Hour, Teen Out Reach and Career Launch.
Despite all of her extracurricular activities, Pohl, a junior at Carpinteria High School, said she challenges herself to excel in academics by enrolling in a variety of honor courses with plans to major in either business management or psychology at UCLA or UCSB.
“I’m so excited to go on college tours with Keystone this summer,” Pohl said. “I feel not only an obligation but a desire to go to college. Many people say that they can’t afford it or want to take a break from school, but by postponing their college education not only are they postponing a good life but an opportunity for a better future.”
Next, Miguel Benitez, 17, from the Santa Barbara West Club, acknowledged that he had made a lot of bad decisions in his life, but after he joined the club last year he accumulated extra credit and more than 100 community hours in the past three months that will enable him to graduate early from La Cuesta Continuation High School.
Benitez said one of his future goals is to obtain a college degree in child psychology because he wants to counsel middle school students. He gave credit to club director Magda Arroyo, who helped him jump-start his goals and obtain sponsorship.
“Magda has grown to be like a second mom to me,” he said. “She supports me and has kept me from joining gangs and staying out of fights. I’m enjoying life now as it should be.”
At the conclusion of his speech, the elated Benitez shared how honored he was to be chosen as a teen representative for the Santa Barbara West Club.
“I never thought I’d be up here, and I never thought I’d get any award in my life,” Benetiz said. “My parents are now here looking back at me as a good teenager and a good kid, and it’s great.”
Goleta Club member Cesar Lizama, 17, a senior at Dos Pueblos High School, spoke softly but with immense poise as he praised staff members who taught him how to succeed in life and encouraged him to enroll at SBCC next fall in the emergency medical technician program.
“I’m excited to start my life as an adult, and someday I hope to get my doctorate as a psychologist to help couples in need,” Lizama said. “I’m excited to get an education and become a respected member of my community to make something of myself and make my mom proud.”
Next, bright-eyed Melanie Acton, 16, who has been attending the Lompoc Club branch since third grade, shared how she has overcome many obstacles as a teenager.
“I managed to let my GPA fluctuate to 0.7, but over time with the support of the club director and staff members, my grades have risen to 3.5,” Acton said.
Acton is an active Keystone member and also serves as a peer mentor and member of the organizational committee for the 2012 Career Launch program.
“My next steps in life include reaching my utmost potential and standing as an inspiring member to my community,” Acton said. “Becoming a public speaker for the Boys & Girls Clubs around the world is a dream for me, and giving back to communities everywhere is something I want to pursue as a life goal.”
At the conclusion of the oral presentations, guests enjoyed a delicious Mexican buffet dinner provided by the Faculty Club while the judges adjourned to a backroom to tally the final votes and determine who would win the Youth of the Year award.
Youth of the Year is an international program that dates back to the inception of the United Boys & Girls Clubs, in 1947, and every year each club — more than 4,000 worldwide — selects a Youth of the Year.
Each of the four local finalists received a $1,000 college scholarship award from the Hutton Parker Foundation and a plaque commemorating their achievements with the inscription, “A hundred years from now, it will not matter what my bank account was, the sort of house I lived in or the kind of car I drove, but the world may be different because I was important in the life of a child.”
After much deliberation from the judges, Pohl was awarded the local title and an additional $500 from the United Boys & Girls Clubs. She is now moving on to February’s coastal area contest, which comprises 24 clubs spreading from San Luis Obispo County to Ventura County and out to Bishop. Winners eventually move on to a state competition with an opportunity to enter a regional competition where each regional winner receives a $10,000 scholarship with a chance to compete on a national level. The national winner receives an additional $15,000 scholarship and meets the president of the United States to formally accept the award and also begins a one-year term as the teen spokesperson for all Boys & Girls Clubs members.
“If I didn’t have these experiences and new relationships that I built at the club, I’d be completely different,” Pohl said. “The club really has changed my life.”
Santa Barbara County 2nd District Supervisor Janet Wolf also presented each of the teens with a certificate of recognition and said she was amazed at the array of talented candidates for Youth of the Year.
“These kids were all wonderful in their own way and I loved their individuality,” Wolf said. “The one commonality was the Boys & Girls Clubs and what it meant for them and how the club helped them get to the place that they are today.
“These teens are so articulate and so passionate, and I’m just so excited to know that these are our future leaders.”
The United Boys & Girls Clubs of Santa Barbara County thanks the following sponsors for supporting the annual Youth of the Year dinner: ATK Space, Deckers Outdoor Corp. and Santa Barbara Bank & Trust.
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— Noozhawk iSociety columnist Melissa Walker can be reached at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address). Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkSociety, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Become a fan of Noozhawk on Facebook.
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