The Boys & Girls Club announces two youth of the year winners for each state — a traditional and military winner.
Each year, the announcement is made in a different community in Mississippi. This year, the celebration was held in the Pinnacle at Coahoma Community College on Friday, March 8.
“This celebration in Mississippi has not been in a rural community such as Clarksdale in a while,” said Tiffany Thornton, senior director of youth development services, from the Boys & Girls Club national headquarters in Atlanta. “After the event took place in Jackson last year, we decided that we wanted to have a true representation of the state. So that is why we came to Clarksdale and we have had an amazing time.”
There were representatives from 16 Boys & Girls Clubs organizations throughout the state at the event.
Thornton said all of the children went to the Delta Blues Museum, on a canoe trip down the Mississippi River and to a party at the Coahoma County Expo Center.
“The Boys & Girls Club of the Mississippi Delta has planned a great experience for these young people,” Thornton said. “We started off with a bit of fellowship.”
Jaliyah J. Snaer from the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Gulf Coast was the 2019 traditional winner. NaTerika Shellman from the Columbus Air Force Base Youth Center was the military winner.
Both winners received $5,000 to go toward college.
The second-place traditional and military winners received $1,250 to go toward college. The third-place winners received $500.
Breneth C. Jenkins was the representative from the Boys & Girls Club of the Mississippi Delta.
“Youth of the Year is one of the Boys & Girls Club’s national premier legacy programs in the areas of leadership and character,” Thornton said. “This program has been in existence since 1957. We recognize amazing young people across the country and the military bases overseas.”
The winners from each state, all between ages 14 and 18, are announced between January and June.
“After the Mississippi Youth of the Year is named, they will continue on to the regional celebration that will be later this summer in Atlanta,” Thornton said. “If they are named the regional representative, they will then continue on to the national celebration that will be in New York at the beginning of the fall.”
