This past Tuesday, January 28th, 2020, the Boys and Girls Club  “The Forest” in Redwood City hosted its annual “Youth of The Year” with the participation of six young Sequoia seniors. 

Youth Of The Year is an annual ceremony for members of the Clubhouse who compete within their local Clubhouse sharing their stories of leadership, personal struggles, and the impact that the Boys And Girls Club has had on the youths’ in their lives. Local judges judge Their stories off of four criteria, their resilience in the face of challenges, the judges also think about how much impact BGCP has had on the club member; finally, they think about how each candidate would do as a spokesperson for BGCP. The winner of the local clubhouses then have the opportunity to compete against other local members at the East Palo Alto Clubhouse representing the Redwood City Clubhouse. 

This year the Redwood City Clubhouse the Youth Of The Year representatives where six young Latinas who demonstrated their strength and capability to represent the Redwood City Clubhouse at the Boys and Girls Club 2020 final. The six participants all members of the Clubhouse and students at Sequoia High School, Yaritza Rodriguez, Maria Chavez, Victoria Aguilar, Andrea Rodriguez-Cruz, Monserrat Páez, and Maria Casique participated in this year’s ceremony. They touched the audience and judges with their stories of courage, strength, and intelligence.

With a short time to deliberate, judges faced the complicated job to choose the next representative of the Redwood City Clubhouse and to continue onto the finals. This year the Clubhouse was given two representatives after a tough deliberation. Both Yaritza Rodriguez and Maria Casique were given Youth of the Year 2020 title and will proceed to compete in the finals amongst other amazing members.