Allie Martinez Named 2020 Lawrence Youth of the Year
LAWRENCE, Kan. – Tears rolled down her cheeks – and nearly everyone else’s – when Allie Martinez thanked the crowd after she was named the 2020 Boys & Girls Club of Lawrence Youth of the Year.
Nearly 300 Boys & Girls Club families, board members, teachers, donors and mentors rose to their feet in a standing ovation as Martinez was announced the winner. All three candidates were deserving of the praise as each delivered emotionally captivating speeches Thursday night on the Liberty Hall stage.
“We have 3,000 Club kids every year that have something amazing about them,” said Monica Dittmer, Interim CEO of the Boys & Girls Club of Lawrence. “I am lucky that I get to see that every day. What is really incredible is helping them, coaching them, mentoring them and watching them go through a process to get to a point that they are brave enough to get up on stage and show the rest of the world what we see – how amazing they are, how much personality they have, how they dance at exactly the right time, how they crack a joke at the perfect moment, how they deliver a flawless speech. All of our kids are capable of that, and tonight we had an opportunity to watch those incredible young people show the whole world what we already knew.”
Youth of the Year is the premier way of recognizing outstanding high school students who have been involved with the Boys & Girls Club throughout their lives. This competition showcases Club kids who have been examples of academic success, strong moral character and dedication to their community, their schools and their families. The 2020 Lawrence event featured Clay LaPierre (senior, Lawrence High School), Akosua Danso (sophomore, Free State High School) and Martinez. As Dittmer eluded to, all three of them were outstanding, and Martinez is still in awe that she walked away the winner.
“There are no words to express how I felt in that moment,” Martinez said. “I’m just this kid who started going to Boys & Girls Club in third grade and here I am now, a senior in high school telling a story about my life. The first thing I thought about was how proud I was of the other candidates. I turned around to give them a hug as soon as I could. Watching Clay grow out of his shell and seeing Akosua be so powerful on stage, I’m just so proud of them.”
Presented by Mid America Bank, Youth of the Year celebrates the life-long relationships that kids develop with the Boys & Girls Club. Youth of the Year is widely regarded as an all-time favorite at the Club by everyone involved. Martinez has been a member of the Club since her days at Hillcrest Elementary. While the Youth of the Year process is time consuming for the high school senior, she never considered not participating in the program.
“Youth of the Year is more than just one day in January,” Martinez said. “It is something that will impact the rest of your life. It will change you in a good way. It will make you feel so empowered and so confident in yourself.”
Martinez shared how her “Try Me” motto, that she explained in her 2019 speech, really tested her throughout the past year. She suffered a nasty fall at work, which left her with several broken bones in her leg that led to painful surgeries and a battle with her mental health. Meanwhile, her grandmother fought her own health concerns and survived a car accident. Her fellow candidates shared strong speeches, as well. LaPierre opened up about the pain of his parents’ divorce and the impact it made on his life. Danso explained how isolating it was to move from Ghana, West Africa to a community where almost no one looks like her.
Taking in all of these impactful stories was the valiant group of judges were tasked with selecting a winner. The panel was comprised of Dr. Krista Whitney, Jeff Hill, Sgt. Myrone Grady, Dr. Luis Salazar, Karl Kramer and Samrie Devin. They conducted interviews with all three candidates, scored each of their three application essays and listened intently to all three speeches to arrive at their decision.
Martinez will now go on to represent Lawrence at the Kansas Youth of the Year event in Topeka. State winners advance to regional competitions; regional winners advance to the National Youth of the Year event. Boys & Girls Club of Lawrence has produced the Kansas Youth of the Year in five of the last eight years, most recently being Ruth Gathunguri in March 2019.
No matter what happens at the state level, Dittmer and her BGCLK team know that Martinez will be outstanding.
“I knew Allie when she was at Hillcrest Elementary and participated in the Junior Youth of the Year,” Dittmer said. “I could see it then. You could just tell that there was something amazing about that kid. What I didn’t know then, what she didn’t know then, was that she would have all of these obstacles come up and try to get in her way. But that kid has so much courage and heart and resilience that she gets right back up every time and keeps on fighting.”
The daughter of Lisa Rooney, Allie aspires to become an interior architect, combining architecture and interior design. She plans to major in architecture at The Cooper Union, Barnard College, School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) or Kansas State University.