Top regional Boys & Girls Club youth awards go to CSS students
The emotions went from nervousness to shock to satisfaction for two Contentnea-Savannah K-8 School students who vied for – and won – top regional awards in the Junior Youth of the Year competition conducted by the Boys &Girls Clubs of the Coastal Plain.
Morgan Johnson, a fifth grader at CSS, was named Junior Youth of the Year and sixth-grader King Dixon won the Duane Reynolds Leadership Award in a competition that drew 30 nominees from nine counties. Morgan and King represented the Boys & Girls Club of Lenoir County, where they are active members.
“It was like I was in a dream,” Morgan said, remembering the banquet in late February when her name was called. “It was amazing how I got this chance to do this because some people didn’t get this chance, and I was glad I was that person who was a finalist.”
The Youth of the Year banquet, an annual event for the Coastal Plain organization, recognizes all nominees for Junior Youth of the Year and Youth of the Year and celebrates the winners. The junior category is open to club members ages 10 to 13 and older club members compete for the Youth of the Year title.
That night in New Bern, Morgan, 10, and King, 12, found themselves on stage with two other regional finalists in front of a large audience, holding a microphone and answering questions about themselves and their Boys & Girls Club experience – questions designed to narrow the field to two.
“I was kind of nervous,” King said. “I was nervous they wouldn’t call my name.” And when they did? “It was just shocking,” he said.
The process that took Morgan and King to the winner’s circle started for members of the Boys & Girls Club of Lenoir County with a call for nominees in August, according to Dantriel Woodland, the club’s director. He, club education director Keosha Ham and other staff worked with the nominees on interview skills and on the required essay.
“We had 10 nominees and that was narrowed down to four during the interviews,” Woodland said.
Regional finalists were selected from club finalists through interviews. Along the way, both Morgan and King said they learned a lot through the competition and the club-based workshops that prepared them for it.
“I got better at writing,” Morgan said.
“They taught us eye contact and how to shake people’s hands,” said King. Club members work on those academic and social skills as a matter of routine, but Woodland believes Youth of the Year competition sharpens the focus. “I think this prepares them for real life by giving them people skills and speaking skills,” he said. “It also gets them to believe in themselves, that they can be winners if they do the work.”
Morgan Johnson and King Dixon, students at Contentnea-Savannah K-8 School and members of the Boys & Girls Club of Lenoir County, won top honors in the regional Junior Youth of the Year competition conducted by Boys & Girls Clubs of the Coastal Plain. They are shown with Dantriel Woodland, right, director of the Lenoir County club, and Keosha Ham, the club’s education director.
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