By Angie Thorne | Fort Johnson

FORT JOHNSON — Emmalee Polk recently attended the Louisiana Youth of the Year Event in Baton Rouge, representing the Fort Johnson Middle School and Teen Center and the Boys and Girls Club of America. Polk won the title of Louisiana Military Youth of the Year for 2024 and a $10,000 scholarship.

Being named Youth of the Year is the highest honor a Boys and Girls Club member can receive. It recognizes outstanding contributions to a member’s family, school, community and Boys and Girls Club, as well as their ability to overcome personal challenges and obstacles.

As part of competing for Military Youth of the Year, Polk showcased her communication, leadership and resilience skills by completing several essays, developing a speech and undergoing a variety of questions from a panel of judge’s on her way to winning her new title. Surrounded by nearly 100 of her peers, she delivered a speech depicting her life as a military youth and the struggles she has had to overcome throughout her life.

Heather Owens, Child and Youth Services program operations specialist for Directorate of Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation, said Polk represented Fort Johnson wonderfully.

“As Youth of the Year, she is an ambassador showcasing the values of leadership, service, academic excellence and healthy lifestyles,” Owens said.

Polk said she loves being part of The Boys and Girls Club.

“It’s a neat experience. Before I joined I didn’t think it was going to be a big deal, but I found myself enjoying being part of something bigger than myself, she said. “I found that what I said really mattered and that was important to me.”

Polk also loves the community she finds by being part of the club.

“I like the things we do and being friends with other kids like me,” Polk said. “It’s given me so many opportunities that I know I wouldn’t have had otherwise.”

The idea of her competing began when she attended the Army Teen Panel (a way for military teens to gather and brainstorm solutions to challenges for military teens) in the summer of 2023.She got to be friends with a lot of previous Boys and Girls Club Youth winners at the event  and they encouraged her to compete. She said wasn’t sure about it at first.

Her thought process centered around, “That could never be me.” But as time went on it changed to, “Why can’t that be me?”

“The more I got to know the people who had already won, I realized they weren’t that different than me and if they could so it, I could too,” Polk said.

In the end, she to try, but wasn’t an easy task.

“It was a lot of sitting down and focusing in on the things I wanted to say through the essays and three-minute speech I had to write,” Polk said. “I had never done any kind of public speaking, so it was a little nerve-racking to speak to a panel of three judges and then speak in front of everyone attending the event.”

What she has learned from competing in this event is the importance of the military community.

“Having them support me through this process and what I was trying to do was amazing,” Emmalee said. “It’s all about the military family and I felt like it was important to highlight them and everything they do.”

After she won, Polk said it felt really good when all that hard work paid off. “It felt great to get that win and represent all the military youth of Louisiana,” she said.