Jaiyah Stringer, a junior Advanced Placement and Honors student at Gainesville High School, has been named the 2022 Youth of the Year for the Boys and Girls Clubs of Lanier.
Stringer was awarded a $2,500 scholarship from the Duane Hinshaw Scholarship Fund. She will also go on to compete for the title of Georgia Youth of the Year and a $2,500 college scholarship from Boys & Girls Clubs of America.
The Youth of the Year award is sponsored locally by the Clipper Petroleum Foundation. The award recognizes a Boys and Girls Clubs of Lanier member who shows, "leadership, service, academic excellence and dedication to live a healthy lifestyle," according to a press release.
Stringer has been a member of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Lanier since she was 8 years old. Her extracurricular activities include serving as secretary of the Keystone Club, volunteering at Meals On Wheels, and serving ten hours each week at a local shelter for battered and abused women.
She is passionate about mental health awareness and tentatively plans to attend Fort Valley State University. She wants to pursue a career as a social worker.
If Stringer is named the Georgia Youth of the Year, she will contend for the title of Southeast Regional Youth of the Year and an additional $20,000 college scholarship.
Six finalists will advance to the National Youth of the Year event in Los Angeles in September 2022 to vie for the title of Boys & Girls Clubs of America’s National Youth of the Year. The National Youth of the Year will receive an additional scholarship of $50,000 and a new Toyota Corolla.
