NC and SE Region Youth of the Year: 2008

Felicia Arriaga: 2008 North Carolina & SE Region Youth of the Year

Felicia Arriaga had been a member of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Henderson County since she was in second grade and has a long record of service there. She had played leadership roles for key programs, such as the Torch and Keystone Clubs. In fact, she guided her Keystone Club to the Gold Level of the President’s Volunteer Service Award for their work on helping the homeless in her community. In addition, she had volunteered for Habitat For Humanity, Hand On Children’s Gallery, and the Hendersonville High School Invisible Children committee, which was created to inform the community about war and poverty in Uganda.

In high school, this young lady was ranked 5th in her class, with a GPA of 4.633 and was a member of the National Honor Society. In 2007, she was selected to attend North Carolina’s elite Governor’s School, where she studied social science. She also played softball through high school and ran cross country track her senior year.

In January 2008 she was selected as the North Carolina Youth of the Year and then in June, she was selected as the 2008 Southeast Youth of the Year. As one of the five regional Youth of the Year candidate, that summer she participated in the national Youth of the Year competition held in Washington, D.C. There she met the President of the United States in the Oval Office and Denzel Washington at a luncheon.

Felicia is currently attending Duke University, where is pursuing her goal of becoming a lawyer.