Ben Boettger/Peninsula Clarion Annika Oren, candidate for the Boys and Girl's club Youth of the Year award, at the Kenai Boys and Girl's Club office on Wednesday, Feb. 18.

Ben Boettger/Peninsula Clarion Annika Oren, candidate for the Boys and Girl's club Youth of the Year award, at the Kenai Boys and Girl's Club office on Wednesday, Feb. 18.

Youth of the Year award chosen

Annika Oren’s family moved to Kenai from Fairbanks when she was in elementary school. Soon after arriving, Oren’s mother signed her up for the Kenai Boys and Girl’s club.

“I wasn’t getting along with the kids from my school and I was often getting bullied, so she (Oren’s mother) thought the Boys and Girl’s club would be a good way for me to get to know people and make new friends,” said Oren. “I was there for no more than 15 minutes when a girl came up to me and asked if I wanted to play with her. We’ve been friends for over seven and a half years now.”

Oren, presently a Junior at Kenai Central High School, has been involved in Boys and Girls Club activities ever since. She now participates as a staff member at the group’s Kenai clubhouse, where she works in the kitchen, helps kids with homework, and leads games in the gymnasium. Her story of joining the club is included in a speech she will give as a competitor for the Boy’s and Girl’s club State Youth of the Year award, which will be judged on Friday at the Kenai Teen Center.

Heather Schloeman, executive director of the Kenai Peninsula Boys and Girl’s Club, described the Youth of the Year award as “a character and leadership program, eligible for club members 14 to 18 years old.”

The Kenai Boys and Girl’s club held their local Youth of the Year event in late January. Of the three contestants, Oren was the winner, entitling her to compete in this weekend’s state event, in which she will be judged against a competitor from the Anchorage Boys and Girl’s Club. Judges will also select a second winner from members of Alaska’s three separate Boys and Girls clubs for children of military personnel, which will bring competitors from Fort Wainwright Army Base and Eielson and Elmendorf Air Force Bases.

In addition to a speech, judges will evaluate the candidates through 15 minute interviews, three previously-submitted essays, and three letters of recommendation from teachers, Boys and Girl’s Club leaders, and acquaintances.

Oren wrote an essay on her “personal brand,” which she said was focused on athletics.

“I’ve always been active,” Oren said. “I love sports. I played hockey, baseball, softball, all that stuff.”

Oren said one of her concerns is that interest in sports has been “dimming recently.”

“I’ve heard things about people in school not wanting to join sports because it’s uncool,” Oren said. “I’ve heard a couple of kids say that. They don’t want to participate in PE, they don’t want to do the runs. They don’t want to play sports at all. They just want to sit down and play on their phones.”

Another problem that Oren dealt with in her essays is religious intolerance, based on her own experience of growing up Jewish.

“There are people who go to my school who don’t like the fact that I’m Jewish, and I’ve heard them say jokes behind my back, random things like that,” Oren said. “But it’s never anything too big. I don’t quite mind it. But if it’s something major, I have to say something to them.”

Following Friday’s competition, the Boys and Girl’s Club will hold an award dinner on Saturday at Kenai Catering. The winner will receive a $5,000 scholarship from the national Boy’s and Girl’s Club organization, The winner from the non-military clubs will also receive $1,500 from University of Alaska College Savings plan, and the runner-up will be awarded $1,000. In addition, the winner will move on to a regional competition in Anaheim, California, where they can qualify for the national Youth of the Year competition. Oren said she has plans for this prize money, should she win it.

“I want to go off to college and be a pediatrician, which is eleven years of schooling, so I’m definitely going to need the money,” Oren said. “I became a mentor here, and what I realized doing that is that I love to work with kids.”

Oren said she is considering many possible schools.

“The main one I want to go to is Washington University in Seattle, but it’s really expensive,” Oren said. “So if I go, I need to raise money for it. That’s why I’m doing this, and working here (at the Boys and Girl’s club) to earn money.”

Reach Ben Boettger at ben.boettger@peninsulaclarion.com

More in News

A sign welcomes visitors on July 7, 2021, in Seward, Alaska. (Photo by Jeff Helminiak/Peninsula Clarion)
‘A thing of the past’

Seward Journal calls it quits after struggle to keep newspaper afloat

Tim Navarre and Dana Cannava discuss a preliminary Soldotna route for the Kahtnu Area Transit with Planner Bryant Wright at the Challenger Learning Center of Alaska in Kenai, Alaska, on Wednesday, Nov. 29, 2023. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Getting people where they need to go

Plans for Kenaitze Indian Tribe’s Kahtnu Area Transit move forward

A state plow truck clears snow from the Kenai Spur Highway on Wednesday, Nov. 2, 2022, in Kenai, Alaska. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
DOT identifies roads included in brine reduction plan

The department said its goal is to reduce brine use overall in the region by 40%

Soldotna High School senior Josiah Burton testifies in opposition to the proposed cut of Kenai Peninsula Borough School District theater technicians while audience members look on during a board of education meeting on Monday, March 6, 2023 in Soldotna, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)
School board finance group reviews expenditures ahead of upcoming budget cycle

As the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District prepares to grapple with another… Continue reading

Members of the Kenai/Soldotna Fish and Game Advisory Committee raise hands to vote in favor of a proposal during a meeting at Cook Inlet Aquaculture Association in Kenai, Alaska, on Monday, Nov. 20, 2023. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Silver salmon, personal use fishing discussed by advisory committee

The group set their recommendations on a variety of proposals to the State Board of Fisheries

Hoses pump water along Patrick Drive to help mitigate flooding near Kalifornsky Beach Road on Friday, July 21, 2023, near Kenai, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)
Borough spent almost $78k responding to flood events during disaster declaration

Most of the funds were spend in the northwest area of Kalifornsky Beach Road

The National Weather Service’s map shows a winter weather advisory, in orange, effective for much of the eastern Kenai Peninsula. (Screenshot)
Heavy snow, blowing winds forecast for Turnagain Pass on Wednesday

Snow accumulations of up to 16 inches are expected

The Kenai Courthouse is seen on Monday, July 3, 2023, in Kenai, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)
Grand jury adds charges in October killing of Homer woman

The indictment was delivered on Nov. 8

Alaska State Troopers logo.
Anchorage resident arrested in Nikiski after troopers investigate reports of stolen vehicle

Troopers responded to a residential address in Nikiski around 11:30 a.m. after being notified by Sirius XM that a stolen vehicle was there

Most Read