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Gabriel Carrasco, 15  Being named Youth of the Year is the highest honor a Boys & Girls Club member can receive. The title recognizes outstanding contributions to a member’s family, school, community and Boys & Girls Club, as well as personal challenges and obstacles overcome. This program was founded over 60 years ago through the generosity of Reader’s Digest.
Gabriel Carrasco, a sophomore at Carlsbad High School, has been a member of the Club for 9 years and has been involved in many different Club programs. He is currently a member of the Keystone Club, a teen service driven leadership group, and he also serves as the youth representative for three New Mexico programs that work to address the issue of tobacco usage.
At school, he is a stand out student, falling in the top 15 percent of his class. He is a member of MESA, and is also enrolled in several AP and accelerated courses. Although Carrasco is just a sophomore, he knows that college is in his future, and plans to major in business.
The son of Orlando and Patricia Carrasco, Gabriel is the youngest of three boys. He credits his family with teaching him to set high standards for himself. “My self motivation and determination have made me the person I am today,” he said. Carrasco has struggled with asthma, since he was a young boy, but has pushed himself to make sure he attends school even when he may not be feeling completely up to it.
Carrasco also started out this school year with a health challenge. When his appendix ruptured the night of the first day of school, he was rushed to the hospital and forced to face emergency surgery. This put him out of school for two weeks, but he managed to complete all of his work that he had missed before returning back to school.
“Gabe’s drive to succeed in whatever he does makes him a tremendous role model for all of us as we look to the future and see bright, aspiring young individuals ready to become our future leaders,” said Sylvia De Los Santos, Club Executive Director. “We are all very proud of him and we know he will continue to make us proud at the state competition and in years to come.”
If Carrasco wins at the state competition, he will win a $1,000
scholarship from the New Mexico Area Council of Boys & Girls Clubs
and an additional $1,000 scholarship from the Reader’s Digest
Foundation. He would then move on to compete for the title of Southwest
Region Youth of the Year and an additional $10,000 scholarship. The
five regional winners will advance to Washington, D.C., in September
2009 to compete for the title of BGCA’s National Youth of the Year. The
National Youth of the Year receives an additional $15,000 college
scholarship and is installed by the President in an Oval Office
ceremony.
“The Club’s a great place for me to be myself and make a positive
impact on younger kids,” said Carrasco. “I’m a little nervous [about
the competition], but I’m happy to be able to have this opportunity.”
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 Summer Garcia, 13 Summer Garcia, a seventh grader at Alta Vista Middle School, has
been a member of the Boys & Girls Club for seven years. She is
currently a member of Torch Club, a youth service leadership group for
teens ages 11 to 13. She has also participated in Jr. Staff, the SMART
Moves Program and the YEAH Coalition, to name a few. Garcia spends a
lot of time working the Club’s concession stand for basketball games
and volunteering with younger members around the Club. Her Club
participation has won her the honor of being named Youth of the Month
several times.
At school, Garcia is a regular A&B Honor Roll Student, and has
received awards for math, reading and woods. While college is several
years down the road, she has the goal of going to school to study
marine biology.
The daughter of Freddy and Regina Garcia, Summer has two older
brothers. Garcia embraces being the only girl by helping her mom around
the house whenever she can and also takes pride in feeding her baby
goats each morning before school. Her mom has helped her contribute to
the community by gathering food for the homeless. “My parents have
taught me to respect myself and others around me, no matter what they
look like or how they act,” said Garcia.
“Summer and her family are long time members of the Boys & Girls
Club family, and it has been wonderful to watch her grow into such an
outstanding teen,” said De Los Santos. “We look forward to Summer’s
continued participation at the Club and can’t wait to see her
accomplish all of her goals.”
Carlsbad has a long history of accomplishment with the New Mexico State
Youth of the Year competition, having won the state title five times in
the past six years, and several times in years past. New Mexico is the
only state that holds a Youth of the Year competition for younger Club
members. If Garcia wins the Jr. Youth of the Year competition she will
receive a savings bond. “I’m excited to compete for Jr. Youth of the
Year because I get to represent Carlsbad and our Club,” said Garcia.
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