Carbondale Chamber of Commerce recently issued the following announcement.
The Boys and Girls Clubs of Southern Illinois will hold its 5TH Annual competition for the 2020 Junior and Senior Youth of the Year on Thursday, January 23rd at 6:00 pm at the SIU Student Center Ballroom D.
Four high school students (Miles Showalter, Erica Hines, Trinitey Thompson, and Ahvineal Turman, Jr) will compete for the Youth of the Year title. The winner will compete at the State Competition on April 21st and 22nd in Bloomington, IL. The winner will also receive a college scholarship. Four youth (Cordell Cady, Joshiya Neal, Dezaray Nix and William Toliver) are competing for the Junior Youth of the Year award.
Finalists for the competition wrote 3 essays: My Club Experience, What Matters to Me and Overcoming Obstacles. They will all be giving a 3-5-minute speech after the dinner that incorporates the content of these essays. This is the point of the event when they steal your hearts. Judges will ask each candidate 2 questions. Two 3-judge panels will have the difficult task of selecting one person for each the Sr. Youth of the Year and Jr. Youth of the Year. Both the Junior and Senior Youth of the Year winners will be the 2020 ambassadors for the Boys and Girls Clubs of Southern Illinois.
This year the event will feature guest speaker, Club Alumni – Naomi Tolbert.
Tickets for this event are $25.00 for adults, $10.00 for Club family’s members and $5.00 for all youth. We are still looking for sponsors for the event. Contact Kassie Taylor at ktaylor@bgcsi.org or 618-457-8877 x0032 if you are interested in being a sponsor at the $100, $500 or $1000 level. Please join us on Thursday, January 23rd for an evening you will never forget and support the future leaders of your community.
Since 1947, Youth of the Year has been Boys & Girls Clubs of America’s premier recognition program, celebrating the extraordinary achievements of Club members. Each year, one exceptional Club member is selected to be the National Youth of the Year.
The National Youth of the Year serves as both an exemplary ambassador for Boys & Girls Club youth and as a strong voice for all of our nation’s young people. The journey to being named National Youth of the Year begins locally and progresses to the state, regional and national levels. To achieve the title of Youth of the Year on any level, Club members must embody the values of leadership and service, academic
excellence, and healthy lifestyles. They should exemplify the critical impact that Boys & Girls Clubs have on the lives of young people.
Original source can be found here.
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