Lawrence Youth of the Year Ceremony Set for Jan. 30
LAWRENCE, Kan. – The Liberty Hall stage will shine its spotlights on three Boys & Girls Club of Lawrence candidates for the 2020 Youth of the Year ceremony on Thursday, Jan. 30. Serving as the premier event for more than 4,000 Boys & Girls Clubs across the country, the upcoming Lawrence celebration will feature Akosua Danso, Clay LaPierre and Allie Martinez.
The program will begin at 7 p.m. and is free for the public to attend.
Presented by Mid America Bank, Youth of the Year celebrates the life-long relationships that kids develop with the Boys & Girls Club. Those students who earn a Youth of the Year nomination embody the values of leadership service, academic excellence and healthy lifestyles. They exemplify the powerful impact that the Boys & Girls Club has on kids in Lawrence.
“The great part about working at the Boys & Girls Club is there is never a shortage of reminders for why I love my job,” said Interim CEO Monica Dittmer. “There is no greater reason than Youth of the Year. In almost two decades with the Club, I’ve honestly watched kids start here in kindergarten and grow into a Youth of the Year winner in high school. Listening to these kids tell their stories and learning about the obstacles they have overcome – to think that Boys & Girls Club played some small role in that is incredibly humbling. It’s an honor to work with these young men and women.”
A panel of judges (Police Chief Gregory Burns, Jeff Hill, Dr. Krista Whitney, Karl Kramer and Samrie Devin) will spend the afternoon of Jan. 30 interviewing each candidate and scoring each of their essays and short answer questions. When the curtain goes up at 7 p.m., each candidate will be ready to deliver individual speeches to the audience. The voice of the Jayhawks, Brian Hanni, will serve as the emcee for the evening.
Given an emotionally arduous task, the judges will tally the scores after the speeches to determine the 2020 Lawrence Youth of the Year. Their decision will be announced at the conclusion of the ceremony. The winner will then go on to represent Lawrence in the state competition. 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 2019 and 2018.
Akosua Danso
Akosua Danso is a sophomore at Lawrence High School. She is the daughter of Naomi and Alfred Danso, and the loving big sister to her brother, Ohene. Although she is the youngest of the 2020 Youth of the Year candidates, she can certainly hold her own on the stage and in the classroom, as she plans on attending an Ivy League School. Her sights are set on Yale, Harvard, Princeton, Cornell or Stanford. She began attending the Boys & Girls Club in second grade, just eight years after her family moved to the United States from Africa. Akosua played volleyball – including a fifth-grade championship – and danced in the Lights On Talent Show for several years. She works with HANG12 at the Lawrence Arts Center when she’s not at school or BGC. Akosua plans on double majoring in law or psychology, as well as art, when she gets to college.
Clay LaPierre
The son of Linda and Travis LaPierre, Clay LaPierre has attended the Boys & Girls Club since sixth grade. Already a proven success, Clay was named the Junior Youth of the Year at the Teen Center during his eighth-grade year. A senior at Lawrence High School, Clay is accepting a Youth of the Year nomination for the second-straight year. He is a member of the Chesty Lions Marching Band. He began working at the Club this fall, serving as a mentor in Clubs all over the city as a substitute group leader. Clay aspires to become a mechanic and a business owner. He plans to attend Peaslee Tech and the University of Kansas.
Allie Martinez
Mary-Alicia “Allie” Martinez is senior at Free State High School, representing herself, her family and her Club for the second Youth of Year competition in a row. Allie has a passion for creating and expressing herself through art. In fact, she sold her first pieces as an artist at the Lawrence Arts Center last spring. She was elected by her peers as the President of the Dane Floyd Keystone Club, the high school community service club at the Center for Great Futures. At FSHS, Allie is a member of the Chamber Choir, Art Club and the National Honor Society. She began her Boys & Girls Club days in elementary school and earned Junior Youth of the Year honors in fifth grade. 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.
For additional information or to make media arrangements, contact Director of Marketing and Communications Alissa Bauer at abauer@bgclk.org.