Winterville, NC – On Thursday, February 3, Boys & Girls Clubs of the Coastal Plain hosted its Youth of the Year Annual Recognition Dinner.  La’tecyia Johnson was named Youth of the Year and received a $3,000 college scholarship. La’tecyia has been a member of the Beaufort Teen Center 2018 and has displayed increased self-confidence by participating in Club programming. She serves as an excellent role model, setting an example for other club and community members by exhibiting excellent leadership skills academically and athletically. Lateycia plans to become a criminal profiler. She has been offered many opportunities due to her academic achievements and was invited to attend the National Youth Leadership Forum: Law & CSI Participant in Washington, DC. In addition, she has received numerous acceptance letters and invitations to apply for honors programs at various colleges. She has not decided which college she will be attending in fall 2022, but she will begin the journey of eventually earning a master’s degree in criminology. This year, in addition to the organizational winner receiving a $3,000 scholarship, we also be awarded the runner-up with a $1,000 scholarship. This year’s runner-up was A’Niyah Grant, from the Jack Minges Teen Center in Winterville, NC. This year we also honored a Junior Youth of the Year winner, Hannah Oliver from the Sunshine Lady Club in Morehead City, who received a trophy.

Three other Youth of the Year finalists participated in the dinner: Makyra Hoggard representing Beaufort County, Justice Spruill representing Martin County, and Tiara Johnson representing Craven County. All finalist gave their speech and were awarded medals. La’tecyia will go on to represent Boys & Girls Clubs of the Coastal Plain at the North Carolina State Youth of the Year competition later this spring.

Being named Youth of the Year is the highest honor a Boys & Girls Club member can receive. As Boys & Girls Clubs of America’s premier youth recognition program, the Youth of the Year title recognizes outstanding contributions to a member’s family, school, community and Boys & Girls Club, as well as personal challenges and obstacles overcome. Each state winner is awarded a $1,000 college scholarship and five regional winners a $10,000 scholarship. The national winner receives an additional scholarship up to $50,000 and is installed by the President of the United States.