NC Youth of the Year

Tequia Clark: 2006 North Carolina Youth of the Year

Tequia Clark, age 17, was selected the 2006 NC Youth of the Year for Boys & Girls Clubs at state competition.  Clark represented the B&GC of Henderson County.  The Youth of the Year program recognized her exemplary character, leadership skills, academic achievement and outstanding service to the Boys & Girls Club and the community.

A twelve-year member of the Boys & Girls Club of Henderson County, Clark is a senior at East Henderson High School.  She is on the varsity basketball team and a member of chamber choir.  She has been inducted into the National Honor Society and is ranked 24th in her class of 223.  A two-time Governor’s School nominee, Clark maintains a 3.85 GPA in mostly honors classes.  At the Boys & Girls Club, Clark is co-president of the Keystone Leadership Club and recently represented the Club at the SE regional Keystone Conference in Tampa, FL, and the national Keystone Conference in Wash., DC. 

For the past year, Clark has been a junior staff employee of the Boys & Girls Club.  She has worked alongside adult staff to provide leadership and guidance to the Club’s members, setting an example of positive citizenship and accomplishment.  Her college plans include studying child and adolescent psychology.

“I realize that the Club means a lot to me,” Clark says.  “The Club is so diverse.  We all come from different walks of life, which makes me appreciate the Club even more.”  Clark credits the Club for providing her endless opportunities, yet at the same time feels the Club is like a second home.  “I feel secure surrounded by people that have a genuine concern about my well being.”

Clark lives with her mother, Pamela Suber, a younger sister and a foster brother.  Club teen director, Bob Bell, spoke of how Clark helped the Club’s teen program become outstanding.  “She is a powerful role model, a tremendous friend and a life coach to most of our members young and old.  She is a major influence on our teens exhibiting positive peer pressure.”  Teen staffer Sheila Benjamin, who has known Clark all her life, finds great satisfaction in watching Clark grow into a fine young lady.  Clark’s leadership in teen programs and Club activities has “proved to be one of her greatest contributions to our Club.  She was a main person in raising nearly $6,000 to send Keystoners to the last two conferences.”  Tequia recently represented BGC’s at the NC Community After-school Programs Conference in Greensboro as a youth panelist and at the BGC-NC Annual Conference as a featured speaker and youth panelist.