NC Youth of the Year

Michele Dills: 2007 North Carolina Youth of the Year

Eighteen-year-old Michele Dills was selected the 2007 N.C. Youth of the Year for Boys & Girls Clubs.  Dills is a member of the Boys & Girls Club of Henderson County in Hendersonville. A 12-year member of the Boys & Girls Club of Henderson County, Dills is a senior at North Henderson High School.  She maintains an A/B average, is on the varsity track team and a member of the state champion relay team.  In June, she will be the first in her family to graduate from high school.  In the fall, she will attend N.C. A&T State University in Greensboro.

At the Boys & Girls Club of Henderson County, she is a leading member of the Keystone Leadership Club and recently represented the club at the national Boys & Girls Clubs of America Keystone Conference in Washington, D.C.  Last year, she was a key club member who went to New Orleans as part of the Keystone Club’s team to help victims of Hurricane Katrina. For the past year, Dills has been a junior staff employee of the club.  She has worked alongside adult staff to provide leadership and guidance to the club’s younger members, setting an example of positive citizenship and accomplishment.

“The Boys & Girls Club means a lot to me,” Dills said.  “I want to thank the staff for loving me, believing in me and helping me maintain focus and support.  Without these people, I would not be the person I am today.” Dills credits the club for pushing her to always do her best and never give up.  Frequently without parents during her growing-up years, Dills survived bouts of homelessness with grit and grace.  Currently, she resides with a high school friend, with some support and guidance from her great-grandmother, Bethel Smith.

She competed against other local Boys & Girls Club youth from across the state for the N.C. Youth of the Year title in Goldsboro in March.  She was awarded a $7,500 college scholarship. “Because of family problems, Michele had every excuse in the world to give up and go down the wrong path,” said Bob Bell, teen director.  “Michele has instead drawn on her inner strength to make choices that have led her to be one of the club’s star members.”

Dills will go in June to Boys & Girls Clubs of America-Southeast regional Youth of the Year competition in Atlanta.  The winner in Atlanta will compete against four other regional winners for the national honor in Washington, D.C., where the National Youth of the Year will be officially installed by the President in a White House ceremony in September.  The winner will receive a $10,000 scholarship from the Reader’s Digest Foundation, sponsor of the national program since its inception in 1947.