Angela M. Drake: Youth of the Year 2017
Boys & Girls Clubs of Oakland is excited to present our 2017 Youth of the Year, Angela M. Drake. As Youth of the Year, Angela serves as a positive role model and an inspiration for all of Oakland’s youth, including our 2,300 student-members.
Angela first discovered the Club when she was 8 years old, a second grader at Thurgood Marshall Elementary School in East Oakland. Her working single mother was introduced to our Ossian E. Carr Clubhouse as she searched for a safe, affordable and flexible place where her children could learn and grow. Now 15 years old, Angela has been a constant presence at the Club for over 7 years, always offering a helping hand and leading by example.
Similarly, Angela’s good character and citizenship is on full display within the broader community. Recently, Angela spent a month in Bakersfield, CA volunteering for a voter engagement and registration group. She is an advocate for fair housing in Oakland, and passionately participates in peaceful public demonstrations addressing important issues such as Women’s equality.
“Everyone has that place that acted as a foundation to who you are today. That place for me was a Boys & Girls Club in the heart of East Oakland.”
Angela is currently a sophomore at Skyline High School. As a sophomore, she is taking Advanced Placement courses and has already received academic scholarships for college. She is proud to have recorded her highest GPA yet, a 3.57 for the Fall 2016 semester. Through hard work and dedication, she aspires to attend Howard University to pursue a legal career focused on advancing human rights.
The many hardships and obstacles Angela has faced growing up have shaped her passion and dedication for helping others. Growing up in a single parent household in East Oakland has not been easy for her. Every day is a crude reminder of the dangers which immediately surround you. Every day you are a witness to the struggles and injustices associated with poverty. Angela has not only transcended the challenges and obstacles, but uses them as motivation to do good in the world.
Angela believes that the Boys & Girls Clubs of Oakland has also played an instrumental role in shaping who she is today. At the Club, Angela says she’s learned about “proper work ethic”. At the Club, she has been granted with ample opportunities to be a “leader” and “role model”. Further, she believes that Boys & Girls Clubs of Oakland has served as an “eye opener to all the options that are available in life”.
Please join us in congratulating Angela 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 2017.
“Angela has very good articulation skills, very good grades in school. She is open and willing to help other children/youth who need assistance with their homework, enhancing and developing better study habits.”
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.