Post club announces top youth

By Mr. Robert Timmons (IMCOM)February 4, 2016

Posing for a selfie
1 / 3 Show Caption + Hide Caption – (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL
And the winner is
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Congratulations
3 / 3 Show Caption + Hide Caption – Col. Morris Goins, Fort Jackson chief of staff, left, and Col. James Ellerson, Fort Jackson garrison commander, congratulate Winnie Tataw on being selected as the Boys & Girls Club of Fort Jackson's 2015 Youth of the Year. Tataw is a 15-year-old soph... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL

After school some children play sports while others hand out on the streets with friends. But there are those who spend time with a surrogate family -- the Boys & Girls Clubs of America -- where they are enabled to reach their full potential and become caring, responsible citizens.

Boys & Girls Clubs annually serve more than 4 million young people in more than 4,000 facilities worldwide.

For 12 Fort Jackson youths their efforts to be upstanding members of society were recognized during a ceremonial dinner Jan. 28.

"This is Christmas for me every year," said the group's director as he prepared to announce Fort Jackson's top youth. James Anderson, leader of the post's chapter of the Boys & Girls Clubs of America, was at the mic when the 2015 Youth of the Year was announced.

Winnie Tataw, the organization's Youth of the Month for October 2015, was all smiles after being crowned Fort Jackson's top youth.

'I have lots of fun and have amazing experiences with tons of different people," Tataw, a 15-year-old sophomore from Westwood High School, said about the BGC.

The youths were recommended by Youth Services staff, Anderson said.

The Youth of the Year candidates were screened thoroughly with judges looking at their home and family life, moral character, community activities, school achievements, service to the club, life goals, obstacles they overcame, written essays, poise during interviews, and public speaking.

Col. James Ellerson, Fort Jackson's garrison commander, said he was proud of the efforts youths' efforts even if they didn't win.

Ellerson, and Col. Morris Goins, post chief of staff, handed out plaques and posed with each youth before honoring Tataw.

"We are all winners here," he said proudly after handing Tataw a plaque. "In this day and time, many of you have chosen to make a decision that youths of today don't normally do; that is being a part of something bigger than yourself. You may not see it now, but as you get older it will make your life much easier.

"As soon as you see it's about us as a team; us as an organization; and us as a unit you will go a long way," he said. "You already made that decision early on and I really am proud of each and every last one of you.

"When I was coming in a young man stopped me and said, 'Thank you for your service.' I told him, 'No, thank you'" because the military allows you to do "what you are doing right now."

"Don't let anyone tell you the sky's not the limit," he concluded.

Ellerson wasn't the only adult giving the extolling the club's virtues at the event. Author and inspirational speaker Brooks Harper, who was a Boys & Girls Club member as a child, told the youths to make sure they keep working hard to do the right things.

"Your name is the most valuable thing you have," said Brooks, who joined the Club as a 9-year-old and was named South Carolina's Youth of the Year in 1985. Your name is a brand and can get take you places, "It is the most important thing you are."

Brooks, a member of the board of directors for Boys & Girls Clubs of the Midlands, has parlayed his reputation as a strong and engaging speaker into being asked to speak based on his reputation.

James Brown, who is the first to say he's not the "Godfather of Soul" but the vice president of community development and outreach, said the Youth of the Year competition allows young people to "show us what they have done."

Tataw will represent Fort Jackson in the South Carolina Youth of the Year competition in Columbia, South Carolina in February.