Boys & Girls Clubs of Metropolitan Baltimore (BGCMB) held its 2021 Youth of the Year competition virtually on Friday, April 16. Candidates from each of our four Clubs participated and a panel of five judges selected Mo’Riyah J. from our Brooklyn O’Malley Club as this year’s winner.
Mo’Riyah received a Junior Staff position, laptop, Under Armour swag bag and the opportunity to represent BGCMB in the Maryland Youth of the Year competition on May 20. In her speech, Mo’Riyah expressed gratitude for her experience as a Club kid saying, “The Club helped prepare me for the outside world. Not only was I being taught how to properly acknowledge my faults and handle my anger, but I was also able being given the support to excel out of what I knew I could already achieve.”
The judging panel was comprised of five individuals who evaluated the candidates on their leadership, service, academic excellence and dedication to living a healthy lifestyle. This year’s judges were Otis Greene of BlackRock; Andrew Hilger of Allegis Group; William Jernigan of the Governor’s Office of Crime Prevention, Youth and Victim Services; Dina Minor of Toyota Financial Services and Officer Sheena Newman of the Baltimore Police Department.
Youth of the Year is Boys & Girls Clubs’ premier leadership and recognition program for teens. Club teens participate in local, state and regional Youth of the Year events. Six teens, including five regional winners and a national military youth winner, advance to the National Youth of the Year Celebration, where one outstanding young person is named Boys & Girls Clubs of America’s national teen spokesperson. The National Youth of the Year is a role model, leader and advocate for over 4.6 million youth served by Boys & Girls Clubs each year, and all of America’s young people.
For more on our 2021 Youth of the Year competition and to hear the candidates’ speeches in entirety, visit our YouTube channel.
Comments