2015 SAN ANTONIO YOUTH OF THE YEAR COMPETITION
Congratulations to Nia-Real Pina, our 2015 Youth of the Year!
Nia has endured more than most high school seniors. By the age of four, she suffered the loss of two fathers. She attended six different elementary schools while her mother worked two jobs, leaving her to care for herself and her younger brother. From a young age, Nia found herself searching for something to fill her emptiness.
And she found it at the Boys & Girls Clubs of San Antonio. She felt love and encouragement from the first day she walked through the Club doors. Her shyness has disappeared and she sees the Club as her extended family.
Tragedy has recently struck Nia’s family again, as her stepfather was diagnosed with cancer. But thanks to “her Club”, she’s in a much better place to handle any adversity that comes her way.
Nia gives back to her community through her role as President of the Boys & Girls Clubs Keystone Club and Kym’s Kids. Her favorite Boys & Girls Clubs programs are SMART Girls, d2D, and Money Matters. Nia will graduate from high school, on time, in May 2015.
The Boys & Girls Clubs motto is “Great Futures Start Here” and Nia truly believes that. She will be attending Sam Houston State University after graduation and plans to major in nursing, so she can embark on her dream of curing cancer.
Special thanks to our judges Pam Cox (Whataburger), John Worthington (Security Service Federal Credit Union), Leslie Ann Garza (Harlandale ISD), Jennifer Cantu (Bank of America), and Dennis Noll (San Antonio Area Foundation). And thanks to the incredible generosity of Security Service, each contestant received a brand new iPad, and Nia received a brand new MacBook Air!
The Boys & Girls Clubs of San Antonio is so proud of Nia and all the participants of the 2015 Youth of the Year competition.
To learn more about the Youth of the Year Program, click here.
