CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA. (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) — Monticello High School junior Ashley Cruz has been a part of the Boys & Girls Club at Southwood for 11 years. Now, she will represent not just the Southwood club, but the Boys & Girls Club of Central Virginia as a whole, as she was named the organization’s Youth of the Year earlier this month.

“It feels great,” she told Cville Right Now. “I’m happy and I’m excited for what’s to come. I’ve gotten a lot of support, not just from the club, but from my church and from school, so it’s been great.”

Youth of the Year is a national competition held by the Boys & Girls Club each year that aims to develop leadership abilities in its members. Each club holds its own Youth of the Year competition for all members between 14-18 years old, as well as a Junior Youth of the Year competition for 11-13-year-olds. After each individual club selects its own Youth of the Year, those selected move on to compete for the title of Youth of the Year of their local organization. From there, selected club members move onto the statewide competitions, then regionals before finally reaching the national competition.

This is Cruz’s second year participating in Youth of the Year competition. She represented the Southwood club at the local organization’s Youth of the Year competition as well, and this year will move on to the statewide competition, which will be hosted in Charlottesville from March 16-18.

James Miller, BGCCVA’s Director of Life and Work Readiness, told Cville Right Now the judges at the organization-wide competition were impressed with Cruz’s poise and calm confidence, as well as the thoroughness of her application.

“The judges said they were impressed with her attention to detail,” he said, “how thoughtful she was in the interview process. She would pause and think about her answer before she just blurted the first thing that came to her head. And then they said she also did a really good job just building personal connections in the short amount of time they had with her.”

The 15-minute interview with the judges is just one of the many requirements participants needed to complete for the competition. Each had to create a cover letter and resumé, have two letters of recommendation, one from a club staff member and another from a community member, and three separate essays. Their interview with the judges was also preceded by a three-minute speech in front of said judges, who then evaluate every aspect of the application.

Cruz said the application process was stressful at first, but once she started it got easier because of the help she received from club staff and others.

“Wherever I needed help, they were there,” she said.

This year, the Central Virginia clubs made sure their members were ready for the competition by hosting a number of events in the lead up. Club members worked with Live Arts, the Center for Community Partnerships and the Jefferson Literary and Debating Society to develop their public speaking skill. They also received help from UVA students on their resumés at “Resumés & Ramen Night,” and ran Thanksgiving food drives to bolster their community service experience.

Miller said while Youth of the Year is a competition, the goal of the program is to elevate every club member and provide them with invaluable life skills. He hopes those skills are what all the participating members take away the most from this experience.

“This year especially, we’re trying to adapt it to make them kind of like, I hate to use this word because we use so often, but a cohort,” he said. “They’re all in this together. For example, we’re going to take them on a celebration field trip over spring break where it’s just fun, because they’ve done all the learning aspects and now, we just want to celebrate them now they’ve kind of completed this portion.”

Cruz said she seen plenty of growth in her fellow club members, and echoed Miller in saying the point of Youth of the Year is not to compete, but for each participant to learn and grow.

“Win or lose on the competition, we’re all winners,” she said, “and we learn a lot.”