Photo By Rick Emert | Gianny Venegas read more read more
By Scott Prater
Mountaineer staff
When imagining what might go on at a local youth center, most folks envision a place where teens and preteens just go to play. It’s easy to see that a center holds a gymnasium, maybe a swimming pool, baseball and softball diamonds, an equipment checkout center and some classrooms. Once inside, one might find a few adults dressed in coach’s wear, blowing whistles and shouting a lot.
This vision belies some real activity that occurs at youth centers, however, where young people can often soak in knowledge that can dramatically change their lives.
Take Gianny Venegas, for example. Her time spent at the Fort Carson Child and Youth Services Center (CYS) has led to some national recognition, helped her earn college scholarships and set her on a path toward a promising career.
Following a competition, the first week in June, Venegas, 17, was recently named the Military Youth of the Year for 2021 for the Southwest Region. And she’ll compete for the national Military Youth and overall Youth of the Year honor later this summer.
The competition is sponsored by the Boys & Girls Clubs of America, of which the Fort Carson CYS is affiliated.
Established in 1947, the Youth of the Year is the Boys & Girls Clubs of America’s premiere recognition program. It awards young people, ages 14 to 18, for their commitment to community service, academic success, good character and citizenship, and establishing long-term goals.
The Military Youth of the Year honor was introduced in 2013 to recognize outstanding teens served by BGCA-affiliated youth centers on U.S. military installations worldwide. Six finalists emerge from local, state and regional competitions to represent youth centers in six regions — Overseas and the Northeast, Southeast, Pacific, Midwest and Southwest United States. The National Military Youth of the Year winner advances to the final round to join the five regional Youth of the Year winners, from non-military Boys & Girls Clubs, to vie for the honor of National Youth of the Year.
Venegas, the daughter of retired Master Sgt. Arturo Venegas, was born in Maryland, and like most military kids, lived on or near Army posts in Texas, Florida, Missouri and Germany before landing at Fort Carson in 2017. She just graduated from Fountain-Fort Carson High School this May with a 5.0 GPA, meaning she earned A grades in all of her classes, including those deemed advanced placement (AP) or international baccalaureate (IB), which are weighted higher than standard school curricula.
GPA was just one deciding factor, though. In addition to excelling at school, Venegas also learned to play piano, competed for her school’s tennis team and started a business.
“I spent four months saving up a bit of money and then did some research about starting a business, like shipping and prices and fees,” she said. “Then I created a shop and found a platform to sell on.”
She explained that all profits generated by her business go toward buying toys to donate to the Colorado Children’s Hospital.
“I made it a charity business because it allows me to donate my time and maybe help people from home,” she said.
While many people complain about not having enough hours in the day, Venegas seems to resemble a model of efficiency.
Kuulei Flowers, assistant director, Fort Carson CYS, said this is the second year Venegas has competed for Military Youth of the Year. In 2020, she earned Military Youth of the Year for the state of Colorado.
“It is a pretty intense competition,” Flowers said. “We host a youth of the year competition locally and choose a youth to represent Fort Carson. This is Gianny’s second year as our representative and she ended up not only winning the state competition, but the regional competition. Representatives win $8,000 in scholarship funds for winning at the local level and $20,000 for the regional level.”
As part of the competition, candidates must submit five separate essays, two letters of recommendation and a resume. The kicker is they must also compose and deliver a 3-minute speech.
“That’s one of the great things about this contest,” Venegas said. “I was really nervous during last year’s competition, but the process itself helped me build up my public speaking skills, so this year I feel a lot better about competing and I feel good about my speech. I was really glad that I could talk about something that I really cared about without stuttering or getting sweating palms.”
While Boys & Girls Clubs panelists decide on the national level award during the next few months, Venegas, Fountain-Fort Carson High School’s 2021 valedictorian, is moving ahead with her immediate goals. She’ll enroll at the University of Colorado Boulder in the fall, where she plans to major in molecular biology.
“The most interesting thing to me is anatomy and the way humans work,” she said. “That was always my favorite class in high school, so now I want to go to college to become a doctor. That’s my overall motivation.”
For now, she’ll play the waiting game, as panelists work to select a national award winner from the regional candidates.
Flowers said regional winners should learn if they advance as soon as September 2021.
| Date Taken: | 06.07.2021 |
| Date Posted: | 09.17.2021 11:17 |
| Story ID: | 405495 |
| Location: | US |
| Web Views: | 19 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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