Boys & Girls Clubs of the Peninsula (BGCP) Youth of the Year Semi-Finals

Boys & Girls Clubs of the Peninsula (BGCP) recently held semi-finals of its Youth of the Year Program, honoring students for their achievements in leadership, service, academic excellence, and dedication to living a healthy lifestyle.

A total of 11 high school students from BGCP's Mervin G. Morris Clubhouse (Redwood City) and Moldaw-Zaffaroni Clubhouse (East Palo Alto) completed interviews with selection panels comprising business and civic leaders, as well as public speeches before the panelists and hundreds of BGCP supporters.

Students named as their clubhouse representatives to advance to the finals, occurring January 29, were Chris (Redwood City) and Sileih (East Palo Alto).

Chris, invoking the imagery of a beloved sweater and an analogy of its woven fabric to elicit the meaning of community, spoke eloquently of his upbringing and BGCP's role in helping him. He thanked his parents for their sacrifices, "giving up certainty so that I could chase possibility." He referred to true leadership as "inspiring others to lead," and stitching sweaters for the next generation so that they could feel community wrap around them.

Sileih opened her speech with the declaration that "growth is beautiful, painful, and necessary." For her, growth meant overcoming several family members being "in and out of jail" and her own challenges in learning appropriate methods of conflict resolution. Quite simply, she said, "I needed to work on myself." Sileih showed great emotion and resilience in explaining from the stage that just one week earlier she had been placed in foster care. She closed with an expression of gratitude for BGCP staff and others providing a "village of strong women for me to fall into their arms."

Chris, Sileih, and the other Youth of the Year candidates from the two clubhouses gained immeasurably from supportive interactions with the selection panelists who interviewed them privately and praised them publicly during each event. Redwood City Panelists were Community Volunteers Jennifer Bartle, Jennifer Levey, and Lizzy Reed, Broadcom Software Fellow Ron Frederick, and Redwood City Mayor Elmer Martinez Saballos. East Palo Alto Panelists were Cheryl Blanchette (Emerson Collective), Alma Pulido (Chan Zuckerberg Initiative), Sal Rodriguez (AppLovin), John M. Sobrato (The Sobrato Organization), and Liam Thorpe (Stanford University Football Player.