Please join us in celebrating our 2018-2019 Youth of the Year!

The Boys & Girls Clubs of Schenectady is proud to announce the 2018-2019 Youth of the Year: Thalia Maynor! Thalia is a junior at Schenectady High School and has been a member of the Steinmetz Boys & Girls Club since she was six-years old. Two words that best describe Thalia are dedication and hard working. While spending over 100 hours volunteering at the Club and in her community in 2018, Thalia was also able to achieve stellar grades and play two high school sports.

Thalia is part of the accelerated International Baccalaureate Program at Schenectady High School, taking the most difficult courses offered to students. She has a 3.2 average and ranks 58th in a class of 493 students. She also excels in athletics playing varsity and travel team Volleyball and Track & Field. Even with her busy school schedule, Thalia still attends the Club regularly.

At the Steinmetz Boys & Girls Club, Thalia serves as a Junior Staff member volunteer who works to help younger members with homework, develop their computer skills and leads them through various art projects. Additionally, she is an active member of the Real Talk program, a program of the Alliance of Positive Health for high-risk teens. This youth-led and youth-driven prevention program is designed to have a positive impact on reducing or eliminating potential risky behaviors teens may engage in.

The Boys & Girls Club has helped Thalia to find her voice and develop into a strong leader and role model for so many children. Over the years the Club is where she has learned the importance of giving back to her community. She has been a staunch volunteer at Global Youth Service Day (since 2011), World AIDS Day (since 2015) and has been involved in several community service projects with her volleyball team and Baccalaureate Program in school.

Lastly, Thalia also credits the Club for helping her map out her future career path. While working with an engineer from RPI who was volunteering in the Club’s STEM initiative, Thalia discovered the career she will be pursuing in the future. Her current goals are to attend the Rochester Institute of Technology and study Petroleum Engineering- the career she learned about during her time in the STEM program at the Club! With her pure drive and determination, it is safe to say we expect great things from Thalia Maynor.

“The Club gave me a chance…it has been there to celebrate my successes and to help me learn from my mistakes. My Club is my support system, my Club is family!”