‘It means everything’ Youth of the Year ready to represent Holland at state competition

HOLLAND TWP. — When Jaquelin Barajas heard her name called at the Holland Civic Center last month, it was a dream come true.

The West Ottawa senior was named the 2024 Youth of the Year for the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Holland, something she’d imagined since she was in elementary school, watching her sister take the stage as a nominee in 2016.

“I have wanted to be a Youth of the Year ever since I was just a little girl,” Barajas told The Sentinel on April 11. “Seeing (my sister) on stage, I wanted to do it right away. It was breathtaking. It’s been a dream forever to hear them say my name.”

Barajas was named Youth of the Year during the Great Futures Gathering at the Holland Civic Center on Thursday, March 21. Now, she’s preparing to represent the area at the Michigan Youth of the Year event, April 15-17 in Lansing. The state winner will be announced April 17.

Being able to represent the Holland Club at the state level is a meaningful opportunity for Barajas.

“To me, it means everything. This was my home,” she said. “To be able to represent not just my home, but almost every single member that’s been here, their home as well, is just an amazing experience. It’s such a beautiful thing. I’m so blessed to be taking the northside unit wherever I go, no matter what.”

Justin Caserta, director of BGCGH’s EPIC program to help students plan for life after graduation, said Barajas is a great example of an “all-inclusive club member” and a model for others.

More: West Ottawa senior Jaquelin Barajas named 2024 Holland Youth of the Year

“She’s not only using the club to gather skills and prepare her for her next step in life, but she’s also using the club to empower other people,” Caserta said. “She’s a mentor to a lot of the other kids, she’s a junior staff.

“It’s like she’s been in the club so long that she understands what it can do for her, but she’s also laying out a roadmap for younger kids, that they can do some of those same things also as they get older.”

Barajas is involved in several programs at the club and in the community. She’s involved in EPIC, Partners with a Purpose, Holland Youth Advisory Council, West Ottawa Student Senate, National Honor Society and more. She was a nominee for a Youth Social Justice Award.

While Barajas is now an active leader at the club and in the community, she wasn’t that way when she started coming to the club in fourth grade. She credits the staff at BGCGH for helping her grow.

“When you’re a little 9-year-old walking into those doors, everything’s huge. I was just extremely shy,” she said. “I did have a few staff members...they helped me become a member, not just another person walking into the club. With that, I just became more confident and more comfortable with the club.”

The staff at the club have noticed that growth as well.

“She was a little shy and reserved when she first started at the club,” Caserta said. “I’m really proud of Jackie for finding her voice and finding her passions and how to navigate through those as she got older in life.

“The last couple years she’s learned how to be an advocate and how to effectively go about looking for change and how you can promote those types of things in the community.”

Barajas is also a junior staff member at the club. Through that role, she’s been able to interact with and inspire younger members the same way staff did for her.

“Being a junior staff, you work with every student,” she said. “To be able to provide that impact on each and every single person you come across, especially with being named Youth of the Year, I get to come back to our members and tell them that this could be you and just support them and motivate them to do just like I have.”

Barajas plans to attend Michigan State University to major in public policy, with a minor in social science, after graduating from West Ottawa later this spring.

Youth of the Year is the premier youth recognition program for the Boys and Girls Club of America. It honors and celebrates "inspiring teens and their incredible journeys." Although the local event takes place for just a few hours with nominees giving short speeches, there’s much more to the program that people don’t see.

“It’s really a five, six-month process of mock interviews, essays, résumés,” Caserta said. “It’s more than what a lot of people see that night. The accumulation of all the work she’s done, it’s impressive for the kids that do that.”

Other nominees for this year’s honor, all West Ottawa students, were Dulce Salazar, Miguel Mendoza, Ricardo Rodriguez, April Fuentes and Madison Moore.

Barajas is looking to join a list of six other local Youths of the Year to win the award at the state level. Last year’s Holland representative, Isabel Shepard, was a finalist for National Youth of the Year.

— Contact reporter Mitchell Boatman at mboatman@hollandsentinel.com.

This article originally appeared on The Holland Sentinel: Holland’s Youth of the Year ready for state competition