Jaelyn A. Murry: Youth of the Year 2016
It is with great pleasure and excitement that Boys & Girls Clubs of Oakland introduces Ms. Jaelyn A. Murry as our organization’s 2016 Youth of the Year. As such, Jaelyn serves as a positive role model and an inspiration for all of Oakland’s youth, including BGCO’s 2,500 student-members.
Jaelyn was first introduced to BGCO’s mission when she enrolled in programs at our Leonard J. Meltzer Clubhouse, starting at age nine following her family’s move from Los Angeles to Oakland after having lost their home to foreclosure in 2008. Jaelyn, recalling her move to a tough, gritty, inner-city Oakland neighborhood, says that her move to Oakland was “a complete culture shock” and that “it was extremely difficult.” However, she did not let her circumstances stunt her personal growth and development.
Academically, Jaelyn recorded her highest GPA, a 3.46, during her Junior year at the Oakland School for the Arts. With hard work and dedication she has improved her GPA annually throughout high school. Now a senior, Jaelyn aspires to attend USC, Howard University, or CSU-East Bay to pursue a degree in Journalism and Film.
“The Boys & Girls Club is what I needed in my life when I was nine, and is what I want in my life now, at seventeen.”
Jaelyn’s passion and dedication to serve her community is quite evident. Through her volunteer efforts with The Sharon Randolph Breast Cancer Foundation, she has worked tirelessly to bring breast cancer awareness to her community. As an intern reporter for Next Generation News, Jaelyn serves as a role model and a mentor to younger youth in the community who are interested in the entertainment industry.
The desire to give back comes from the challenges and obstacles that Jaelyn herself had to overcome. Growing up in a single parent household, the struggles have been many: from her mother losing her job and home in 2008 resulting in her relocation, to growing up surrounded by a host of urban challenges in her immediate West Oakland community, and to needing public assistance to make ends meet. Through it all, Jaelyn has been able to meet the substantial obstacles and to transcend them. She believes that Boys & Girls Clubs of Oakland has played an integral role in helping her to do so.
Jaelyn says further that “the Club kept me sheltered and safe from what was going on outside of the Club walls” and that “she has always felt supported at the Club and that the Club has always surrounded her with positive people.” Jaelyn strongly believes that the Club “helped shaped and mold me into who I am today.”
Please join us in congratulating Jaelyn for her remarkable achievements including the earning of this most prestigious honor as Boys & Girls Clubs of Oakland’s outstanding Youth of the Year for 2016.
“Jaelyn has the type of personality that warrants full consideration as a leader. She is thoughtful of others, volunteers as an activist, and leads by example.”
“For the past several years, Jaelyn has not only been a Club member, she is committed to making a change in the lives of the people she meets in the community.”
The Youth of the Year program celebrates 14 to 18 year-old student-members’ outstanding contributions to their family, school, community, and their Boys & Girls Club; recognizing their academic excellence, moral character, life goals, poise and public speaking, 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 each fall. State winners each receive a $1,000 college scholarship; Regional winners each receive an engraved plaque and, $10,000 college scholarship and compete on the national level; and the National Youth of the Year receives an additional $50,000 college scholarship and is installed by the President of the United States.