from staff
Boys & Girls Clubs of Northeast Florida will present the 2008 Youth of the Year event Thursday at San Jose Country Club. The event will recognize eight Boys & Girls Clubs of Northeast Florida members who have excelled in their community, Club and family.
The guest speaker for this year’s event is the Boys & Girls Clubs of America’s 2007-08 National Youth of the Year, Demetrice Tuttle. A six-year member of the West Georgia Boys & Girls Club, Tuttle has become a young leader for the members and has headed various community rallies. Tuttle will talk to approximately 200 guests that night about the impact the Boys & Girls Club has made on him and his family.
The guest emcee for the event is Emmy Award-winning television, radio and newspaper journalist Bruce Hamilton. Hamilton is a member of the anchor team for Ch.4’s The Morning Show.
The local Youth of the Year competition is sponsored by the Grune Family Foundation. Each of the nominees will receive a $1,000 scholarship thanks to the sponsorship of the Jackson-Shaw Company, a national real estate development organization.
This year’s eight nominees for the 2008 Youth of the Year event are: Duane Brady from the St. Augustine club; Imari Bratcher from the Laurence F. Lee club; Luis Cruz from the Victory Pointe club; Rakita Dozier from S.A. Hull club TEAM UP; Desiree Felton from the Fernandina Beach club; Ashlee Hester from the Beaches club; Keshawn Lenton from the Woodland Acres club; and Krysten Watson from the Miller club.
Youth of the Year is a national program administered by Boys & Girls Clubs of America, and it recognizes individual club members’ exemplary character, superior leadership, academic achievement and outstanding service to their clubs and communities.
The winner of the local Youth of the Year will compete in the state competition. Five regional winners selected from among the state winners will compete for the national honor in Washington, D.C., where President Bush will announce the National Youth of the Year at a White House ceremony in September. In addition, the national winner receives a $10,000 scholarship from the Reader’s Digest Foundation, sponsor of the program since its inception in 1947.
Boys & Girls Clubs of Northeast Florida is an affiliate of the Boys & Girls Clubs of America and has played an integral role in Jacksonville for 45 years, providing daily after-school programs to nearly 1,300 young people at 12 facilities in Duval, Nassau and St. Johns counties.
According to the recent Harris Survey of Boys & Girls Clubs of America, over 50 percent of alumni said the club “saved their life.” According to the U.S. Department of Education and Justice, students who attend quality after-school programs demonstrate better academic performance, more positive behavior and better school attendance than those who do not. They also develop greater expectations for the future.
Boys & Girls Clubs of Northeast Florida offers time-tested and nationally recognized programs and activities in five distinct areas: character and leadership, education and careers, health and life skills, the arts and sports, fitness and recreation. For more information about the Boys & Girls Clubs of Northeast Florida, visit www.bgcnf.org or call 396-4435.