2016 Youth of the Year Awards & Luncheon

We want to extend a huge THANK YOU to everyone that made our 1st Annual Youth of the Year Awards & Luncheon so special. 

Our four contestants-Kyren Kimball, Jared Pittman, Morgan Griffin, & Devon Kitchen wowed the crowd of over 130 community members in attendance. They each had the opportunity to share their story and what being a part of the Club means to them in their own words. Each contestant won a $250 scholarship from our sponsor SAF Holland and had the opportunity to stand in front of community leaders and be recognized for the incredible teenagers that they are. 

The winner of our 1st annual YOY award went to Devon Kitchen, 17. He won a $500 scholarship from SAF Holland and we will be able to follow Devon in his journey to the Regional and State level of the competition in the coming year! 

Devon is a Senior at Muskegon Heights Public School Academy. He will be graduating in May of 2016 from the school that he created a golf team for. His legacy for this will ring out for every class to come in the future. He opened the door for countless teens to give them  the opportunity to learn something new and to share his gifts and talents with them. 

He has since received a golf scholarship to Missouri Valley, where he says that he will "Be able to play many more months of the year". 

Devon is a unique teen with many goals for his own future-to say the least. He dreams of one day owning his own business. To coach basketball at the high school or collegiate level, to be a motivational speaker, and maybe one day becoming a professional golfer.  

Influential figures to him are Alecia Kitchen, Roger Kitchen, Dominique Smith, Tre'van Kitchen, & Dakota Crow. 

To put it simply, Devon Aspires to BE PHENOMENAL.

Disney Surprise

During the Luncheon, Anthony Marin & Brett Tillander of Healthy Michigan Today came to deliver some BIG news for one of our Boys & Girls Club of the Muskegon Lakeshore members who was asked to come to the event as a guest.

8 year old Naima Turner, her mother, and grandmother were shocked when they heard her name over the speakers. In May of 2015, she participated in the Healthy Michigan Today Disney Trip Giveaway Health Screening as a part of a statewide initiative for better health amongst Michigan youth. In participating, she was entered into a drawing statewide to win a trip to Disney World. Out of over 12,500 youth entered across Michigan, her ticket was drawn. Magic was truly in the air and for Naima, her dreams came true of one day visiting Disney.