Though only one of them will walk away with the big honor, the three Moffat County seniors up for a big award have already benefitted greatly from their time with Boys & Girls Club.

The Craig branch of the youth organization will have three junior staff members competing for Youth of the Year in February. Myla Harrell, Nancy Nuñez and Jordis White will represent the local club in February, along with the nominees from Steamboat Springs, to determine which of them will win scholarship funds and move on to the state level of the competition on behalf of Boys & Girls Clubs of Northwest Colorado.

“Youth of the Year is the highest honor a club member can receive,” said Dana Duran, BGC executive director. “They demonstrate good character, citizenship, leadership, great communication skills, overall just incredible humans.”

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Duran added that the three Craig candidates stand out largely for the sense of humor that is always on display.

“They’re funny, smart and the younger kids just look up at them with these googly eyes just wanting to be them when they grow up,” Duran said.

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Erin Steger, the Craig club director and a former Youth of the Year candidate herself, noted that Harrell, Nuñez and White each spent much of their childhood at the program before becoming junior staff members.

“The junior staff program is an amazing program and I like watching them transition from kid to staff,” Steger said. “All three girls bring a calm presence to the club. They build meaningful relationships with the kids, and they’re really happy and excited to see them every day.”

For more information on the local Youth of the Year scholarship and event, visit bgcnwc.org/yoy or call 970-871-3162.

Myla Harrell

As part of the competition, Youth of the Year recipients must write and present an essay detailing how the Boys & Girls Club has impacted their lives.

Myla Harrell said that she could have put down a lot of thoughts on paper years ago as she saw other junior staff apply for the annual contest.

“I’d kind of been waiting to do it since I’d seen other people apply for it, and I was just waiting my turn for when I was a senior,” Harrell said.

Once it was her turn, Harrell wrote of her observation about the difference between adults in children, namely in terms of kindness.

“As we get older, we lose our open-mindedness and acceptance of people,” she said. “I wrote about how kids are so accepting and how that’s something that we’re born with.”

During her younger days, Harrell appreciated being able to mingle with students from other elementary schools in Craig.

“Coming here as a kid is nice because you only know kids you go to school with, but here there’s kids from all the schools,” Harrell said. “And nobody’s ever judging you. They’re all friends here.”

Harrell said she’s become more talkative and outgoing as a result of her junior staff role, which Steger recently pointed out to her.

“When I first started working here, I think we only spoke two words to each other the first couple months, and now we talk all the time” Harrell said. “I’ve become much more social. Before when I had to talk out loud, I would probably just cry, but now if I’m in a room, I take the lead more, and I’ve really developed more social skills.”

Harrell plans to study economics at an east coast school in the next year — she hasn’t finalized which one yet — and she’s especially pleased to compete as a way to highlight her supervisors.

“They’re so welcoming, and that’s what makes it such a great place to work,” Harrell said. “I want to be here every single day, and it’s my main thing I enjoy and my favorite place.”

Nancy Nuñez

When she first stepped through the doors of the local Boys & Girls Club, Nancy Nuñez said she and her sisters were struggling with a new language and unsure about socializing.

She wrote in her essay about how those doubts melted away as she grew to love the club.

“I talked about how when I first came here I struggled with English and how the club pushed aside that boundary and still welcomed us with open arms,” Nuñez said. “I was a pretty shy kid and didn’t want to be out in the world. Just scared to be judged. The club helped me with that and accepting myself and that maybe others might not accept me, but that’s not everyone. There’s still people that are good.”

Being nurtured by the Craig staff — including Duran and former staff member Tanya Ferguson — at that age helped, but Nuñez kept right on growing in other ways as she got older.

She said that her younger charges show her a different perspective of the world that can be hard for adults to always understand.

“When I was one of the kids that came here, it was like I was in my own world and I would only go with my group,” Nuñez said. “When I started volunteering, I would see little kids but also third-graders, fifth-graders and how they were all different. Once I got to be on staff, I got to know them all more. I got to know myself more and discovered that I really enjoy working with kids.”

Nuñez’s future career plans include earning get a master’s degree in social work and becoming a counselor for families.

She said she takes pride in how she and her fellow nominees can positively showcase the ways the organization benefits children as an after-school program beyond mere babysitting.

“What makes it special is we’re all representing the club and showing the world that there’s more to this place than just taking care of kids,” Nuñez said.

Jordis White

In her essay, Jordis White wrote of just how early she knew she wanted to be part of the staff at Boys & Girls Club.

“I did come to the club as a kid, but I have very little memories of it,” White said. “However, I wanted to work at the club as a junior staff member because I knew when I was younger I needed someone, therefore I wanted to be that someone for a child whether it’s just to listen to them talk about their weekend or to walk them through a panic attack.”

White, who also balanced her role as junior staff with a hectic volleyball schedule this fall, said she believes she makes a difference by staying engaged with kids and their lives.

“The most important moments for me as a staff member are truly the experiences I get with the children, all of the things we get to learn together, each game I teach them, and being able to be their person to talk about their feelings with,” White said. “I try to be a good role model by being as interactive and being a good listener to each kids feelings and I hope to teach them empathy for others.”

White pointed to Torre Coffey as a coworker she saw as a mentor.

“She has really impacted my perspective in our work environment because she truly works so well with the kids, and it teaches me how I can work with them in situations.”

White said she wants to study psychology and neuroscience at the college level because she is particularly interested in the aspects of the human brain, a pursuit partially inspired by her time at the Boys & Girls Club.

“Most importantly I believe they have helped me to learn how to work with multiple individuals adults and children and understand everyone’s differences,” White said.

While she certainly wants to win Youth of the Year, White said she believes any of her fellow nominees would be just as deserving.

“This is an amazing thing to be considered for, and I am grateful to make it this far.”