Meet the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Peninsula's 2011 Youth of the Year
During the second week of January, the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Peninsula held the Youth of the Year celebrations at each of its three clubhouses. Each site selected 3-4 finalists who met with judges consisting of local civic and business leaders and presented speeches to an audience of supporters, families and friends. The youth's speeches were all exceptionally moving and described the youth's ability to overcome life obstacles, involvement with BGCP, and education and career aspirations. The judges were charged with the difficult task of selecting a representative from each site to participate in the finals and those selected were the following:
Janiece Burns - East Palo Alto Clubhouse
Janiece, a senior at Carlmont High School, spends her time being compassionate to others. She is actively involved in Students Offering Support, a group at her school that offers peer counseling and mediation. Last spring, Janiece’s mother suddenly passed away. She has found support and solace in her peers and uses her experiences to encourage other students. “About three weeks ago, while anticipating the incoming New Year, I noticed how people wait until the end of the year to change themselves for the better. While thinking about this I realized that I’d already changed.” As Janiece finishes high school and moves on to college, she hopes to be altruistic.
Richard Kaho - Redwood City Clubhouse
Richard, a senior at Carlmont High School, experienced numerous obstacles during his youth. Richard spent most of his childhood hungry for respect and caring only for himself. This attitude led Richard joining gang that influenced him to make poor decisions, ultimately leading to his arrest and expulsion from school. However, a near-death experience caused Richard to reevaluate his life and helped him discover that his faith in God is what is truly important to him. Richard is now an active member at the Boys & Girls Clubs and has been reinstated into public school. Richard shares, “One of my favorite Bible verses is, ‘For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.’ This verse is important to me because it reflects who I used to be, and who I have worked so hard to become today.”
Nancy Orocio - Redwood City Clubhouse
Nancy, a senior at Sacred Heart Preparatory School, remembers daily the sacrifices her parents have made for her. Nancy’s family moved to the United States so that Nancy and her siblings could have a more stable life. Nancy made two important decisions during middle school: to be an active member at the Redwood City Boys & Girls Club and to attend Sacred Heart. When Nancy started at Sacred Heart she felt like she did not fit in. Now Sacred Heart feels like home and Nancy gives back by tutoring minority students at Sacred Heart’s Lower School. However, Nancy realizes the price of the American Dream. “I will go to college because I don’t want my mom to be on her knees scrubbing toilets nor my dad to be drilling sheetrock into an old age. Pursing a college education means taking of some weight off my parent’s shoulders, the same weight today I carry in the form of a backpack.”
Antonisha Fuller - Menlo Park Clubhouse
Antonisha, a senior at Menlo-Atherton High School, has experienced a tumultuous childhood. She was born to a mother who is a high school drop-out and a father who was a drug abuser. Antonisha found the Boys & Girls Club at the age of nine, a place she likened to paradise. “The Boys & Girls Club gave me the chance to just be a kid and escape the presence of drugs, violence, and the peer pressure that was all around me. I can’t imagine the person I would have been without the help of the Boys & Girls Club.” Today, Antonisha is a teen staff and works with younger students to encourage them to be successful and to avoid the negative pressures that surround them daily.
Ruben Ruvalcaba – East Palo Alto Clubhouse
Ruben, a junior at Eastside Preparatory High School, did not grow up having the latest fashion or toys, but he did grow up with parents who modeled best practices, behaviors and actions to Ruben and his siblings. Ruben's parents taught him that he had to work hard to earn new toys or clothes. They taught me that “this was not the American way or Mexican way, but this was the Ruvalcaba way.” Ruben strives to daily be an example for his peers, his siblings and the younger members at the club.
These students were again interviewed by judges and presented their speech to a crowd of over 250 guests at the Youth of the Year Finals Celebration on January 13th. BGCP is pleased to announce that Nancy Orocio, a member of the Club's Mervin G. Morris Clubhouse in Redwood City, has been selected as the Club's 2011 Youth of the Year. Nancy is a 17-year old senior enrolled at Sacred Heart Preparatory School.
To see excerpts from this amazing evening, please click on the video below.
The Boys & Girls Club of the Peninsula would like to thank this year's judges
McNeil Family Clubhouse
Lori Hunter
Yvonne Hunt
Lauren Koenig
Chief Bryan Roberts
Carole McNeil
Moldaw-Zaffaroni Clubhouse
Carlos Romero
Mindy Rogers
Officer Richard Barries
Phyllis Moldaw
Mervin G. Morris Clubhouse
Sher Amos-Grosser
Dennis McBride
Myrtle Potter
Doug Woods
2011 BGCP Youth of the Year Finals
Chief Lou Cobarruviaz
James Lianides
Miriam Rivera
Jeff Weiner
Youth of the Year Program
The youth of the year program is an awards initiative administered by the Boys & Girls Clubs of America. It recognizes outstanding contributions by a Club member to their family, school, community, and the local Boys & Girls Club where they are a member. It also recognizes youth for overcoming personal challenges and obstacles. The program has been nationally sponsored by the Reader's Digest Foundation since 1947.
At the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Peninsula, each youth of the year nominee participates in both private and public interviews by a panel of city representatives and local business leaders. The finalist is then crowned Youth of the Year and goes to the regional level to compete against winners from other clubs. If the winner remains successful he or she continues on to compete at the state and national levels.
