Youth of the Year 2012
Brianna Bryant
Brianna Bryant, Boys & Girls Clubs of Oakland’s 2012 Youth of the Year is as personable a young person as you will ever meet. Raised in West Oakland, the youngest of three siblings living with a single working mom, Brianna soon gravitated to a safe and positive place, the Club where she has been actively engaged in programs for 7 years.
During her Club years, Brianna “has exhibited a number of outstanding qualities that are rarely found in the average teen today” according to Leonard J. Meltzer Branch Director Magen Clay. “She is a natural leader who demonstrates loyalty and dedication to the Club where she has matured significantly in recent years.” Brianna is active in the Keystone Club, Boys & Girls Clubs’ flagship teen program. She is a patient and attentive tutor who understands the importance of her status as a role model for her fellow student-members.
Brianna is a senior at Oakland Technical High School where she is described by her teachers as creative, imaginative, outgoing, and talented. She excelled on the volleyball court and leads by example in the Black Students Union. Prior to her transfer to Tech, Brianna spent her freshman and sophomore years at the Oakland Military Institute where she was a standout JROTC, earning medals for Advanced Military Knowledge.
Brianna plans to graduate later this spring and will go on to either UC Santa Barbara or UC Santa Cruz toward her ultimate goal of becoming a Veterinarian. For the time being, Brianna enjoys being a help to her mom at her home both before and after school - “it’s only my mother and I so we have to work as a team,” she says.
Brianna is the aunt of four nephews and two nieces whom she truly enjoys having around, often babysitting, taking them to the park, reading to them, and playing board games with them.
Brianna displays characteristics such as kindness, helpfulness, and gives generously of herself on a daily basis, always displaying a positive, upbeat attitude with a smile. She is a very active member of her church where she participates in the Youth Choir, ushers, is a Sunday School Assistant, and enjoys Teen Bible Study and Vacation Bible School through which, according to Brianna, she “learns how to be a good person, take responsibility for her actions, and learns to show compassion to others.” Her voluntarism, including 82 hours at BGCO last year and stints with Highland Hospital’s Nursery Unit has enabled Brianna to “touch many lives” enjoy great experiences, and learn a lot in the process.
Please join us in congratulating Ms. Brianna Bryan for her remarkable achievements including the earning of BGCO’s most prestigious honor, our outstanding Youth of the Year for 2012.
The Youth of the Year program is generously sponsored by Tupperware Brands Corporation. The program recognizes student-members’ outstanding contributions to their family, school, community, their Boys & Girls Club, their academic excellence, as well as personal challenges and obstacles they’ve overcome. Historically, Boys & Girls Clubs of America’s five regional winners have been honored at a Congressional Breakfast on Capitol Hill and have a chance to meet the President of the United States in the White House. Tupperware Brands Corporation, the recognitions program’s national sponsor, awards each state winner a $1,000 college scholarship, each regional winner a $10,000 college scholarship, and the National Youth of the Year receives an additional college scholarship totaling up to $50,000 from The Rick and Susan Goings Foundation.