NC Youth of the Year: 2012

Joreeca Dinnall: 2012 North Carolina Youth of the Year

Joreeca is true example of a young woman who refused to let her past dictate her future. She saw both her parents incarcerated for drug charges, at which time she and her younger siblings were moved to Jamaica to stay with extended family. Once her mother was out of prison, they moved to South Carolina and a few years later, her father was deported back to Jamaica once he was released from prison. She has never seen him again. Life in South Carolina did not improve as their family situation worsened to the point of being left homeless and having to live in a hotel one summer with one bed for 5 people. Dinner during those times was usually a Whopper Jr., small fry and a cup of water.

Everything changed in 2008, when they moved to Hendersonville, North Carolina, where Jorecca found the Boys & Girls Club. Though she was a shy and angry 15 year old girl, she eventually became involved in the many programs at the Club that began to change the course of her life and the lives of others. She has been an active member of the Keystone Club and Enterprise program, where she gained confidence and leadership skills. She has maintained her life at the Club, while maintaining 3 jobs to support her family over the past few years and has been a McDonalds employee for 3 straight years.

Joreeca learned to serve others through over 150 hours of service at her Boys & Girls Club and another 100 hours of service in the community through Keystone projects, bake sales, assisting with Apple Festival parking, raking leaves for senior citizens, etc. She acknowledges that many people have stepped up to help her over the past few years and now she wants to share that support with others.

Neither of Joreeca’s parents completed high school, but she is graduating from East Henderson High School this year. She struggled in high school at first, but with the support of her Club and her own determination, she has spent her Junior and Senior year on the A/B Honor Roll. Furthermore, she received the 2009-10 Most Improved Student Award and was selected as the 2011 Homecoming Queen.

Joreeca now plans to use her success and spirit to obtain an Associates Degree in Criminal Justice at Wake Technical Community College, so that she can become a law enforcement profession. She wrote that “I used to feel like that I didn’t belong anywhere. Today, I am a woman that won’t take no for an answer.” Though she acknowledges that her Boys & Girls Club was the key to that change, it was also her determination to overcome her rough start in life and not let it define her.