On Oct. 30, Boys & Girls Clubs of Metro Atlanta (BGCMA) hosted our 2021 Youth of the Year (YOY) Preliminaries. This year’s YOY Program theme is “Lead, Succeed, and Inspire,” and the event on Oct. 30 was incredibly inspiring.
We celebrated young people and the Great Futures that thrive in our local Boys & Girls Clubs by officially acknowledging our Club level YOYs and Junior YOYs. Fifteen YOYs and eight Junior YOYs were recognized as leaders in their Clubs and communities by their peers, family, BGCMA President & CEO David Jernigan, and our 2020-2021 Metro Atlanta YOY Nila. In addition, each YOY and Jr. YOY had an opportunity to give their speech, speak their truth, and participate in the individual judging process.
“I want to thank Ife Okwumabue, Cuyler Beall, Terri Fishback, Brittney Dunn, Tosin Adedayo and Tyler Reid for their leadership on the Youth of the Year Program,” said BGCMA Senior Vice President of Programs & Operations Lorene Jackson, who emceed the preliminaries event. “I also want to thank Margo Marks and Dr. Sherna Phillips for serving as YOY mentors this year. Finally, I also want to thank all of our staff from both Programs & Operations and Resource Development who supported setup and stood in the gap during our YOY Preliminary Event to ensure our young people and their families had a wonderful time establishing memories for a lifetime. Team Harland – thank you for hosting this amazing event!”
For our Jr. YOYs, they completed their full process, and Madison B. was named Metro Atlanta’s Junior Youth of the Year. Madison is a member of our Warren Boys & Girls Clubs, and she will represent the organization at a myriad of events throughout the year. Congratulations to Madison and to the Warren Team!
For our YOYs, they have now completed the preliminary phase, and we will know the results of their judging process at the 2021 Youth of the Year Gala on Friday, Nov. 12, where guests can attend in person at the Coca Cola Roxy or at home via Livestream.
Over the next two weeks, you will be hearing a great deal about our Youth of the Year and Junior Youth of the Year candidates. On Friday, Nov. 12, we will officially name our Metro Atlanta Youth of the Year. Learn more about your YOY candidates, and register to attend at www.bgcma.org/youthoftheyear.